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Angie (Geena Davis) is an office worker who lives in the Bensonhurst section of Brooklyn, New York and dreams of a better life. After learning that she is pregnant by her boyfriend Vinnie (James Gandolfini), she decides that she will have the baby, but not Vinnie as a husband. This turns the entire neighborhood upside down and starts her on a journey of self-discovery, including a love affair with a man named Noel (Stephen Rea) who she meets at an art museum. Even her best friend Tina (Aida Turturro) has trouble understanding her. 

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Atsuko Kagami is an elementary school girl who has an affinity for mirrors. One day, her favorite mirror which was given to Akko by her mother (or in some versions, by her father, as a present from India) is broken, and she prefers to bury it in her yard rather than throw it to the trash can. In her dreams, she is contacted by a spirit (or in some cases the Queen of the Mirror Kingdom) who is touched that the girl would treat the mirror so respectfully and not simply throw it away. Akko-chan is then given the gift of a magical mirror and taught enchantments, such as "Tekumaku mayakon, tekumaku mayakon" and "Lamipasu lamipasu lu lu lu lu lu", that will allow her to transform into anything she wishes. 

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It has been 17 years since Oscar Madison and Felix Ungar have seen one another. Oscar is still hosting a regular poker game and is still an untidy slob, now living in Sarasota, Florida, but still a sportswriter. One day, he is called by his son Brucey with an invitation to California for his wedding the following Sunday. A second shock for Oscar—the woman his son is marrying is Felix's daughter, Hannah. On the flight from New York to Los Angeles, it becomes clear that Felix has not changed his ways—he is still a fussy, allergy-suffering neat freak nuisance. Oscar and Felix are reunited at the airport and very happy to be together again after 17 years of separation—at least for a couple of minutes. They intend to share a rental car to San Malina for the wedding. But the trip begins with Oscar forgetting Felix's suitcase at the Budget car rental, including wedding gifts and wardrobe inside. Oscar also loses the directions to San Malina when his cigar ashes burn them. He and Felix become hopelessly lost, unable to even remember the name of the town where they are headed, so many California city names sounding alike. They end up in a rural area, where the car rolls off a cliff and catches fire. If that were not enough, they get arrested several times by the local police, first for catching a ride in a truck carrying illegal Mexican immigrants. At a bar in town, they meet two extroverted women, Thelma and Holly, and buy them drinks. Accepting an offer of a ride from a stranger even older than themselves, Felix and Oscar end up inside a $150,000 vintage Rolls Royce Silver Wraith and trapped on the wrong side of the road when the stranger dies unexpectedly. Felix and Oscar are arrested a second time by the police. Irritated, exhausted and convinced that they'll never get to the wedding, they get arrested yet again for consorting with armed reprobate Rednecks who believe Oscar and Felix were flirting with their wild women, Thelma and Holly. The boys are freed and driven directly to the local airport by the police, who are only too pleased to be rid of them, especially the sheriff who tells his deputies not to arrest them again even if they were to commit notorious crimes. A woman boarding the airplane is also en route to the wedding and recognizes them. She is Felice Adams, the sister of Oscar's ex-wife, Blanche. Felix's eyes light up when he learns that her husband died of a heart attack. He calls her "Lise," which causes Oscar to ask Felix if she calls him "Lix." They finally arrive at the right place, only to find that Brucey is having second thoughts about the wedding due to his parents' bad history with marriage. Felix and Oscar argue with their ex-spouses, after which Oscar persuades his son to go through with it. Felix's suitcase is returned and the wedding goes off without a hitch. The next morning, Felix and Felice leave on one flight and part ways with Oscar, who returns to Florida. Oscar is telling his poker friends about the wedding when the doorbell rings. It is Felix, who says things with Felice didn't work out. Felix wonders if he could move in with Oscar until he finds his own place. Oscar refuses, but eventually relents, insisting their days of being roommates will be over if Oscar catches Felix matching any of his socks. Before long Felix cleans up the apartment and Oscar is overcome with a sense of having been through all this before. 

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In the twentieth century, from his castle in the northern part of Tuscany, Vittorio writes the tragic tale of his life. In 1450, Vittorio di Raniari is a sixteen-year-old Italian nobleman, when his family is murdered by a powerful and ancient coven of vampires. The image of his siblings' severed heads with eyes staring fixedly at him strikes him permanently. Vittorio, however, escapes such a dreadful ending because of a vampire's intervention. After taking care of his family's burial, Vittorio gathers what riches he can and prepares himself for adventure as he flees towards Florence, away from the perilous crowd of vampires, under the sun's protecting wing. By nightfall, Vittorio arrives at the most strange of villages, for there are no beggars at the street, no elderly, no sick or dying. Yet his mournful spirit prevents him from taking notice of it. He soon realizes that someone is stalking him, and, worried enough, he seeks shelter at an inn. Ursula, the vampire who prevented the other members of her coven from killing Vittorio, lurks behind his room's window. She continues to seduce him, all while draining blood from him, and giving him some of her own. Vittorio is led by Ursula to the coven's lair, as she attempts to make him part of their gatherings. It is an ancient castle, where he discovers its many gardens filled with old people and sick children; he suddenly realizes that some of these people he had met at the village. Vittorio then witnesses an important feast that is carried on as a ritual by the leader of the vampires' group. In it, some people who were selected from the gardens are sacrificed to satisfy their thirst for blood. After refusing the dark gift, the vampires do not kill him (thanks to Ursula), but rather leave him in a village. As he is walking, he sees two Angels arguing in a doorway, Ramiel and Setheus. The angels are just as surprised as he that Vittorio can see them (he later learns that they are the guiding angels of his idol, Fra Filippo Lippi). With their help, the help of his own angels, and a very powerful armor-wearing angel, Mastema, Vittorio plots his revenge against the vampires, who are invading the lands and killing innocents (incidentally, Vittorio's own guiding angels do not play much of a part; whilst they are often present, they are insubstantial and shadowy, and we do not know their names). The attack takes place in the day and involves decapitating the vampires as they sleep. The heads are then thrown into the sunlight where they wither and die. When it comes time to behead Ursula, Vittorio finds that he cannot do this even as the angels urge him on. Instead, he frees Ursula in the hopes of saving her soul. Within minutes, Vittorio is tricked into becoming a vampire and a yearning for blood conquers everything he knows. In the closing pages we find Ursula and Vittorio performing as an age old Bonnie and Clyde, killing and drinking until they had their fill. These two lovers stay with each other for many years to come. Vittorio is unique in two ways: he can see angels and departing human souls. At the end of the book, he is left with the "gift" to see human souls, which appear from every person as an intense shining light. Mastema tells him that he will never be able to rid himself of this, and that every time he takes a human life he will bear witness to the extinguishing of the soul. Category:The Vampire Chronicles novels Category:Novels by Anne Rice Category:Alfred A. Knopf books Category:1999 American novels 

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Miles Halter, a teenage boy obsessed with last words, leaves his normal high school in Florida to attend Culver Creek Preparatory High School in Alabama for his junior year. Miles' reasoning for such a change is quoted by François Rabelais's last words: "I go to seek a Great Perhaps." Miles' new roommate, Chip "The Colonel" Martin, nicknames Miles "Pudge" and introduces Pudge to his friends: hip-hop emcee Takumi Hikohito and Alaska Young, a beautiful but emotionally unstable girl. Learning of Pudge's obsession with famous last words, Alaska informs him of Simón Bolívar's: "Damn it. How will I ever get out of this labyrinth!" The two make a deal that if Pudge figures out what the labyrinth is and how to escape it, Alaska will find him a girlfriend. Alaska sets Pudge up with a Romanian classmate, Lara. Unfortunately, Pudge and Lara have a disastrous date, ending with a concussed Pudge throwing up on Lara. Alaska and Pudge grow closer and he begins to fall in love with her, although she insists on keeping their relationship platonic because she has a boyfriend at Vanderbilt University named Jake, whom she insists that she loves. On his first night at Culver Creek, Pudge is kidnapped and thrown into a lake by the "Weekday Warriors," a group of rich schoolmates who blame the Colonel and his friends for the expulsion of their friend, Paul, whose expulsion created tension between Pudge's friends and the Weekday Warriors. Takumi claims that they are innocent because their friend Marya was also expelled during the incident. However, Alaska later admits that she told on both Marya and Paul to the dean, Mr. Starnes, nicknamed as The Eagle, to save herself from being expelled. The gang celebrates a successful series of pranks by drinking and partying, and an inebriated Alaska confides about her mother's death from an aneurysm when she was eight years old. Although she failed to understand it at the time, she feels guilty for not calling 911. Pudge figures that her mother's death made Alaska impulsive and rash. He concludes that the labyrinth was a person's suffering and that humans must try to find their way out. Afterwards, Pudge grows closer to Lara, and they start dating. A week later, after another "celebration," an intoxicated Alaska and Pudge spend the night with each other. Soon, Alaska receives a phone call that causes her to be hysterical. Insisting that she has to leave, Alaska drives away while she is drunk with Pudge and the Colonel distracts Mr. Starnes. They later learn that Alaska was driving under the influence and died. The Colonel and Pudge are devastated, blame themselves, wonder about her reasons for undertaking the urgent drive, and even contemplate that she might have deliberately killed herself. The Colonel insists on questioning Jake, her boyfriend, but Pudge refuses for fear that he might learn that Alaska never loved him. They argue, and the Colonel accuses Pudge of loving only an idealized Alaska that he made up in his head. Pudge realizes the truth and reconciles with the Colonel. As a way of celebrating Alaska's life, Pudge, the Colonel, Takumi, and Lara team up with the Weekday Warriors to hire a male stripper to speak at Culver's Speaker Day, a prank that had been developed by Alaska before her death. The whole school finds it hilarious; Mr. Starnes even acknowledges how clever it was. Pudge finds Alaska's copy of The General in His Labyrinth with the labyrinth quote underlined and notices the words "straight and fast" written in the margins. He remembers Alaska died on the morning after the anniversary of her mother's death and concludes that Alaska felt guilty for not visiting her mother's grave and, in her rush, might have been trying to reach the cemetery. On the last day of school, Takumi confesses in a note that he was the last person to see Alaska, and he let her go as well. Pudge realizes that letting her go no longer matters as much. He forgives Alaska for dying, as he knows Alaska forgives him for letting her go. 

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Trevor Garfield is a high school science teacher at Roosevelt Whitney High School, a high school in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn. Dennis Broadway, a gangster student to whom he had given a failing grade threatens to murder him, writing the number 187 (the California police code for homicide) on every page in a textbook. Garfield knows that this is a warning and tries to report this to the administration. Garfield knows that Dennis just wanted to transfer back to his old school and he needed to have good grades. The administration ignored this warning and Dennis ambushes Garfield in the hallway, stabbing him in the back and side abdominal area multiple times with a shiv. Fifteen months after surviving, Garfield, now a substitute teacher, has relocated to John Quincy Adams High School in the San Fernando Valley area of Los Angeles, but trouble starts again when he substitutes an unruly class of rejects, including a Chicano tag crew by the name of "Kappin' Off Suckers" (K.O.S.). Their leader, Benito "Benny" Chacón, a felon attending high school as a condition of probation, makes it clear to Garfield that there will be no mutual respect. The tension mounts when a fellow teacher, Ellen Henry, confides that Benny has threatened her life, an action against which the administration of the school refuses to take action, fearing legal threats. After Benny murders a rival tagger in cold blood, he disappears, and Benny's unstable tag partner, César Sanchez, takes over as leader. When César steals Garfield's family heirloom watch, the principal is more concerned about a lawsuit and refuses to take action. Ellen and Garfield develop a close friendship that approaches the beginnings of a relationship, but is stymied by Garfield's destabilizing behavior and his confrontations with the K.O.S.. Garfield's past garners the unwanted admiration of Dave Childress, an alcoholic history teacher who carries guns at the school. The conflict between Garfield and the K.O.S. escalates with the killing of Jack, Ellen's dog. César, after spraying cartoon graffiti depicting a dead dog, is shot with a syringe filled with morphine attached to the end of an arrow. He passes out, and wakes up to find one of his fingers cut off. César recovers the finger and it is reattached, with the letters "R U DUN" ("are you done?") tattooed as a warning. A student Garfield has tutored, Rita Martínez, faces abuse from both the K.O.S. and Childress, and drops out. The school administration is mired in bureaucracy and unable to intervene. After Benny is found dead in the Los Angeles River, apparently of a drug overdose, it is revealed that Garfield took matters into his own hands, killing Benny and severing César's finger. Garfield lets Ellen leave as she disavows his actions. The K.O.S. plan to murder Garfield. At Garfield's house, the gang forces Garfield into a contest of Russian roulette with César. The latter's forces Garfield to shoot himself as Garfield talks about the lost- cause lifestyle César has led. César watches as Garfield takes the revolver and shoots himself in the head. Driven by his sense of honor and ignoring the protests of his horrified friends, César insists on taking his rightful turn and ends up killing himself. On graduation day, Rita, who completes her studies along with former K.O.S. member Stevie Littleton, offers a tribute to Garfield by reading an essay about him. The essay incorporates the theme of the Pyrrhic victory and Ellen leaves the school. 

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The citizens of Sunnydale flee en masse to escape the Hellmouth and Sunnydale becomes a ghost town. Buffy spots Clem in his car on his way out and the two chat, with him suggesting that Buffy leaves town for this particular apocalypse. Giles and Willow go to get information from the police on Caleb, with Willow using some mind control to convince the officer that they are with Interpol. Spike and Andrew leave to pursue a lead. They discover an engraving on a plaque that states that the power they are searching for is to be wielded by "her" alone. At the deserted school Buffy is confronted by Caleb, who grabs her by the neck and throws her through a window into a wall, rendering her unconscious. After a brief period of unconsciousness, Buffy returns home to discover that Faith has taken Dawn and the Potentials to The Bronze for a night of relaxation. After they run into trouble with the police (during which the police threaten to kill or injure Faith, and briefly hold Dawn and the Potentials hostage at the Bronze), Buffy confronts the group and demands that they make better choices, and reveals her plans for another attack. But at this point (before Spike and Andrew return), the Potentials, as well as Dawn, Willow, Xander, Anya, Giles and Principal Wood, tell Buffy that they no longer trust her leadership. At Dawn's request, Buffy leaves the house and Faith reluctantly becomes the new leader. 

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Nick Naylor is a handsome, smooth-talking tobacco spokesman who attempts to influence the act of people in daily life and the vice-president of a tobacco lobby called the "Academy of Tobacco Studies", which has been researching whether smoking tobacco causes lung diseases or not. They claim that their research—funded primarily by tobacco companies—has found no definitive evidence for it. Nick's job is mainly defending Big Tobacco on television programs by presenting this research to the public. Naylor and his friends, firearm lobbyist Bobby Jay Bliss and alcohol lobbyist Polly Bailey, meet every week and jokingly call themselves the "Merchants of Death" or "The MOD Squad". As anti-tobacco campaigns mount and numbers of young smokers decline, Naylor suggests that product placement of cigarettes could once again boost cigarette sales. Naylor's boss, BR, sends Naylor to Los Angeles to bargain for cigarette placement in upcoming movies. Naylor takes along his young son, Joey, in hopes of bonding with him. The next day, Naylor is sent to meet with Lorne Lutch, the cancer-stricken man who once played the Marlboro Man in cigarette ads and is now campaigning against cigarettes. As his son watches, Naylor successfully offers Lutch a suitcase of money for his silence. During the drive back, Nick and Joey discuss the beauty of argument. Senator Finistirre, one of Naylor's most vehement critics, is the promoter of a bill to add a skull and crossbones POISON warning to cigarette packaging. During a televised debate with Finistirre, Naylor receives a death threat from a caller. Despite the threat, Naylor still plans to appear before a U.S. Senate committee to fight Finistirre's bill. Naylor is then kidnapped by a clandestine group and covered in nicotine patches. Awakening in a hospital, he learns he has survived due to his high nicotine tolerance from heavy smoking, but he is now hypersensitive to nicotine and can never smoke again. Meanwhile, Naylor has been seduced by a young reporter named Heather Holloway. During their steamy fling, the besotted Naylor tells Holloway all about his life and career—information that she happily publishes in an exposé that appears just after the kidnapping. Her article relentlessly criticizes Naylor and his work, exposing Lutch's bribe, the product-placement scheme, and the MOD squad. It accuses Naylor of training his son Joey to follow his amoral example. All public sympathy due to Naylor's kidnapping evaporates, and Naylor is fired by BR. Naylor falls into depression until Joey helps him recall the integrity in his job of defending corporations that almost no one feels deserve a defense. Rejuvenated, Naylor tells the press about his affair with Holloway and promises to clear the names of everyone mentioned in her article. He also declares that he will still appear before the Senate committee. At the hearing, Naylor admits to the dangers of smoking but argues that public awareness is already high enough without extra warnings. He emphasizes consumer choice and responsibility and, to the dismay of Senator Finistirre, claims that if tobacco companies are guilty of tobacco- related deaths, then perhaps Finistirre's state of Vermont, as a major cheese producer, is likewise guilty of cholesterol-related deaths. BR congratulates Naylor on the speech and offers him his old job but Naylor has a change of heart. Seeing Big Tobacco settling claims of liability, Naylor remarks that he has left just in time. He also mentions Heather was humiliated upon being terminated by the paper for her article and is working as a weather reporter on a local news station. Naylor supports his son's newfound interest in debating and opens a private lobbying firm. The MOD squad continues to meet with new members that represent the fast-food, oil, and biohazard industries. Now Naylor runs an agency called Naylor Strategic Relations and consults i. e. cellphone industry representatives concerned about claims that cellphones cause brain cancer, he narrates: "Michael Jordan plays ball. Charles Manson kills people. I talk. Everyone has a talent." 

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The plot of the novel hinges on the actions of a modest technical journalist, Keith Stewart, whose life has been focused on the design and engineering of small and scale-model precision machinery. Stewart writes serial articles about how to build miniature machines in a magazine called the Miniature Mechanic, which are extremely well regarded in the modelling community — as is he. Keith's sister had married a wealthy naval officer, recently retired from service at the opening of the story. The couple plan a long pleasure cruise in their small yacht before settling in British Columbia, meanwhile leaving their 10-year-old daughter with Keith and his wife. Before leaving, they ask Keith for assistance in hiding a jewelry box in the yacht's concrete ballast. When the couple are killed in a shipwreck in French Polynesia, Keith becomes the permanent guardian and trustee of his niece (hence the title). But, the solicitor handling the estate finds that the money has disappeared; the evidence suggests that Keith's brother-in-law converted his wealth into diamonds to take with him abroad in order to evade export and currency restrictions intended to prevent capital leaving Britain. Keith infers that the metal box he secreted contained the diamonds, and he starts to investigate how he may retrieve them from the wreck. It is a difficult problem. Keith, while not poor, has chosen to do work he loves in place of better-paying work, and cannot afford to travel to Polynesia. He is able to call on connections in the model engineering world to deadhead his way on a flight as far as Hawaii. Finding no conventional way to get further which is within his means, he takes passage on the hand-built sailing ship of an illiterate half-Polynesian from Oregon, Jack Donelly. One of the aircrew who took Keith to Hawaii worriedly approaches Keith's editor on his return to England. The editor, somewhat shocked at the risks that Keith is taking, starts trawling the close-knit world of miniature mechanics for someone who could help Keith. Eventually, Mr. Solomon Hirzhorn, who runs a vast timber business near Tacoma, Washington, is informed. Hirzhorn, an inexperienced modeller, has sent lengthy letters asking for elementary clarifications of Keith's modelling articles, which Keith always patiently answered. Hirzhorn is currently building one of Keith's designs, a Congreve clock, and jumps at the chance to help him in return. Hirzhorn arranges for the yacht of a business associate, Chuck Ferris, to proceed to Tahiti to help Keith out. Coincidentally, Keith and Jack had already consulted the yacht's captain for navigation advice in Honolulu. Keith and Jack arrive safely in Tahiti but are in danger of being thrown into jail due to not having proper ship's papers. The yacht captain smooths over the situation, and brings Keith to the island where the wreck is located. There he meditates on the fate that has brought him so far, takes many pictures, erects a headstone, and salvages the yacht's engine, which he arranges to ship back to Britain to sell. After an amusing incident where Ferris's much-married daughter, Dawn, runs off with Jack Donelly, the yacht proceeds to Washington State. Keith spends several days visiting Hirzhorn, helping him with his model. After Keith catches an engineering error in the contract between Hirzhorn's company and Ferris's that might have cost a couple of million dollars, Hirzhorn arranges for a large consultancy fee to be paid by Ferris's company and has his own company pay Stewart's airfare home. The consultancy fee enables Keith's wife to stop working and take care of their niece. The diamonds are "discovered" by Keith in the oil in the engine's sump soon after it arrives, and proceeds from their sale enable them to take care of their niece's education and other needs. The other characters proceed on their lives happily, we are told at the end of what is probably Shute's most villain-free novel. 

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:USAMRIID was created in 1970 to counter the threat of chemical and biological weapons. :Section 44 of the charter permits it to investigate criminal abuses of science. —Text at the beginning of the pilot episode. Captain Paul Turner (Tim Guinee) is a doctor for The United States Army Medical Research Institute for Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID), who suffers from a rare form of aplastic anemia as a result of exposure to chemical weapons during the Persian Gulf War. USAMRIID lures him out of his sickbed with the opportunity to bring justice to others suffering from unethical uses of science and technology. Unknown to his superiors, he is given a temporary cure for the symptoms of his disease by a mysterious woman who is an agent of a shadowy organization that may be trying to thwart the goals of USAMRIID. He requires periodic doses of the cure to remain functional, a weakness that the shadowy organization occasionally uses to control him. Both the machinations of the "shadowy organization" and Turner's dependency on the "cure" are ultimately resolved in the final episode of the series. 

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In Evans City, Pennsylvania, a man kills his wife and burns down his farmhouse. Firefighters David, a Green Beret, and Clank, an infantryman, both having served in the Vietnam War, are called to the scene. The man who burned down his home is handcuffed in the back of a police car, ranting hysterically. Meanwhile, David's pregnant girlfriend, a nurse named Judy, is called to the office of Dr. Brookmyre, where the two children of the arsonist are being treated for burns. Heavily armed U.S. troops in NBC suits and gas masks arrive in the town, and are being led by Major Ryder, who takes over Dr. Brookmyre's office. Days earlier, an Army plane carrying a bioweapon had crash-landed near the town, infecting the water supply with a virus code-named "Trixie" which is highly contagious and causes victims to either die or become hysterical and homicidally insane. In Washington D.C., government officials order Colonel Peckem to go to Evans City to help contain the virus, while scientist Dr. Watts is brought in to develop a cure. Martial law is declared in Evans City and a quarantine is placed on the town. Army soldiers forcibly move the townspeople into a high school, rousting many from their homes, and shoot anyone attempting to escape. Bombers armed with nuclear weapons are dispatched to destroy the town if necessary. In one house, a soldier encounters an elderly woman who stabs him with her knitting needle. A group of soldiers are killed by a mob armed with guns and dynamite, after which an infected woman happily sweeps the blood-soaked grass. A local priest, upset at the soldiers rousting his flock, douses himself with gasoline and sets himself on fire. David, Judy, Clank, teenager Kathy Fulton, her father Artie, and a sick man named Frank are confined to a large van by the soldiers. The van is attacked by infected people, and the soldiers try to fight them off. Frank wanders off, muttering, and is captured by the soldiers. Clank and David commandeer the van, and the five of them try to find a way to escape the town, spending the night hiding in a building of a country club. The next day, the group attempts to escape by traveling through the nearby woods, fighting off soldiers both on the ground and in an overhead helicopter. Later that day, they come across a house occupied by a handful of soldiers and David and Clank kill the sentries outside the house and hold three of the soldiers inside the house at gunpoint. One of the soldiers discloses what he knows about the virus to David, but when one of the soldiers reaches for his gun, Clank opens fire and kills the soldiers. David confides in Judy what he knows about the virus and tells her that Kathy, Artie, and probably Clank are infected. Going insane from the effects of virus, Artie attempts to rape Kathy. Discovering the pair, Clank beats Artie, who then apparently hangs himself and the next morning, a shaken Kathy wanders outside and is killed by soldiers. Believing himself to be infected, Clank kills several soldiers before being shot in the head, allowing David and Judy to escape. That evening, Judy, now visibly infected, is killed by armed civilians. One of the civilians recognizes David and identifies himself as a fellow firefighter, also uninfected and trying to escape. Angry and frightened, David surrenders to the military. After being taken into custody, David eventually realizes that he is immune to the virus, but he keeps the knowledge to himself. During all of this, the soldiers isolate Dr. Watts in the high school where the infected are being corralled, allowing him to use the simple chemistry lab inside. Watts insists that he might find a cure in a proper laboratory but is not granted access to one, and when Watts develops and goes to share a possible cure he is mistaken for one of the infected and forced into quarantine by the soldiers. The test tubes containing the possible vaccine are shattered after the doctor is pushed down a flight of stairs by a stampede of infected persons and is killed... along with the knowledge of a possible cure. In the final scenes, a distraught Colonel Peckem is ordered to relocate to Louisville, where symptoms of the virus have been reported. After passing a medical test, he boards a helicopter and departs. 

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The Gilgamesh and Balarant nations had until recently been locked in a century-old galactic war whose cause was long ago forgotten. Now, the war is ending and an uneasy truce has settled. The main weapon of the conflict is the common Armored Trooper, a mass-produced humanoid combat vehicle piloted by a single soldier. Both the Armored Troopers and their pilots are also known as VOTOMS (Vertical One-man Tank for Offense & ManeuverS). However, since Armored Troopers have extremely thin armor, and use a highly combustible liquid in their artificial muscle, their pilots have a very low chance of survival, and are commonly referred to instead as "Bottoms", the lowest of the low ("Votoms" and "Bottoms" are written and pronounced the same way in Japanese). The series follows a main character named Chirico Cuvie, a special forces Armored Trooper pilot and former member of the Red Shoulder Battalion, an elite force used by the Gilgamesh Confederation in its war against the Balarant Union. Chirico is suddenly transferred to a unit engaged in a suspicious mission, unaware that he is aiding to steal secrets from what appears to be his own side. Chirico is betrayed and left behind to die, but he survives, is arrested by the Gilgamesh military as a traitor, and tortured for information on their homeworld. He escapes, triggering a pursuit extending across the entire series, with Chirico hunted by the army and criminals alike as he seeks the truth behind the operation. He is especially driven to discover the truth of one of the objects he was assigned to retrieve in that operation: a mysterious and beautiful woman who would become his sole clue to unravelling the galactic conspiracy. 

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On an alien planet named Pluton, an alien garbage disposal converts a monstrous mutant called a Hungry Beast into energy and beams it into space. Meanwhile, on Earth, the Putterman family is getting satellite television, courtesy of a temperamental DIY satellite antenna. The reception is poor at first, but suddenly strengthens when a bolt of the alien energy hits the dish. Sherman Putterman and his ex-military, survivalist grandfather set out to enjoy a night of horror films hosted by the buxom Medusa. Meanwhile, Sherman's parents go out to meet some swingers and his sister Suzy goes out with her rocker boyfriend O.D. Sherman and his grandfather eventually fall asleep, but are awakened when the Hungry Beast materializes out of the TV and eats the grandfather. Sherman's parents later arrive along with swingers Cherry and Spiro. Despite Sherman's plea, his mother locks him in the fallout shelter so he will not ruin their evening. Sherman tries calling the police, but they take him to be a prank caller. He also calls Medusa, but she dismisses him as a psychotic. Later, the Beast travels through the television into the house's sex-themed "Pleasure Dome", eats Cherry, and imitates her to lure Spiro. Sherman's parents also get eaten after they discover the remains of the swingers. Sherman uses some plastic explosive to break out of the bunker as O.D. and his sister arrive. Sherman's sister doesn't believe his story about a monster, and when they check their parents' room, they find imitations of them, their grandfather and the swingers. Soon after though, they encounter the Beast in another room. It chases after them, but relents at the sight of O.D.'s heavy metal paraphernalia, which he finds appealing due to its resemblance of his caretaker's gloves. They then discover that they can subdue the Beast with food and television, and teach it a few words such as "TV", "music" and their names. They consider using the Beast for profit, and call Medusa in the hope of securing a TV appearance. She is initially dismissive, but shows interest when they promise to hold a party. However, the Beast becomes enraged and eats O.D. when its alien captor appears on the TV to warn the earthlings that they must destroy their television equipment to prevent the Beast from spreading. A police officer arrives to arrest Sherman for the prank calls only to be eaten by the Beast. Sherman breaks all the TVs he can find, and eventually the Pluton alien captor appears through the television to exterminate the Beast. Medusa arrives at the house and kills the Pluton Alien, mistakenly believing that he is in fact the Beast that Sherman and Suzy have described to her. When the real monster arrives, it sucks the group of three into its mouth with a powerful gust of air. The next morning, Medusa's chauffeur is woken up by a crude imitation of his employer hiding in the back seat of his car, demanding to be taken to the TV station. 

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The game takes place in an alternate history in 1906 where the British Empire rules all of Earth and several extrasolar colony worlds, powered by technology brought to the planet by Halley's Comet in 1835. An unknown substance known as Halley's Core was found throughout the world, and certain individuals who came in contact with it and gained superhuman abilities became known as "Halley's Chosen." The first of these was a scientist named Dr. Hebble Gate, who was affected by the comet while in his mother's womb. With his superhuman mind he harnessed the power of Halley's Core and discovered a wide range of scientific breakthroughs, including fusion and nuclear power, genetic engineering, computers, space travel and countless others. With these technologies the British Empire quickly conquered the earth, and Gate is famous as the man responsible. A complete mystery to all, Gate also holds great power over economic, political and military affairs, and is the founder of the Hebble Foundation and the GunValkyrie (GV) Organization, composed of Halley's Chosen throughout the world to prevent the misuse of technology. He suddenly disappears, throwing the world into shock, and has been missing for four years by the time the game begins. In addition to his disappearance, the residents of the colonized planet of Tir na Nog have also disappeared, with an outbreak of large alien creatures that resemble giant insects in their place. It is also believed that before his disappearance, Gate was conducting research on how to strengthen the colonists through genetic modification, and it is speculated that the insects and colonists are one and the same. In response, members of an elite military force within the GV organization, known as "Team Dolphin" (established 1887) is sent to investigate Gate's disappearance as well as the situation on Tir na Nog. Leading the investigation is Gate's only daughter, Lieutenant Meridian Poe, who survives on a life support system developed by her father after he surgically removed her head and disappeared with her body. The two playable characters are Kelly O'Lenmey, born in Ballymun, Ireland, a collected idealist who once aided the Irish Republic in their fight for independence until their methods caused her to leave and join the GV, and Saburouta Mishima, born in Kyushu, Japan, an exiled Samurai of the Meiji Restoration who was saved by the GV after he was unjustly sentenced to capital punishment. Dr. Gate's fate at the end of the game is left ambiguous, as the Poe's Report documents presented throughout the game reveal that a body was eventually discovered, but its identity is not confirmed. 

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Valancy Stirling is twenty-nine, unmarried (and thus considered an "old maid") and has lived her entire life with her nagging mother and gossip-minded extended family who actively discourage happiness and treat Valancy like a child. She retreats from her unhappy circumstances with flights of imaginative fantasy, centering on a fairy-tale Blue Castle. When Valancy is diagnosed with a terminal heart ailment, she hides it from her family and, at the same time, realizes she has never been happy in her life, so she rebels against the colorless life that her family has always imposed on her. She begins by judging them objectively and worse, telling them exactly what she thinks, causing the Stirling clan to conclude that Valancy has suddenly lost her mind. Valancy decides to move out of her mother's house and take a position as a housekeeper for a friend of hers who is now gravely ill, Cissy Gay. Cissy and Valancy had known each other as children, but Cissy became ostracized from society for having a child out of wedlock and on account of her father, Roaring Abel, and his reckless, usually drunken behavior. Cissy and Valancy share a room and rebuild their friendship. Valancy enjoys being paid a salary and spends her money in ways her family would not approve, such as purchasing a brightly colored, low- necked dress. She also begins spending time with Barney Snaith, who visits often as a friend to Roaring Abel and Cissy, but who the townspeople are convinced is a criminal and/or the father of Cissy's illegitimate child, now deceased. Just before the end of her life, Cissy confides in Valancy about the man she fell in love with. He offered to marry her when she told him she was pregnant, but she refused because she saw that he did not love her any more. Her baby compensated for her heartbreak, but when her baby died, she was devastated. Cissy eventually passes away, and Valancy's family expects her to move back home, having magnanimously decided to forgive her recent behavior. They are momentarily appeased when Valancy agrees that she is definitely not staying with Roaring Abel; however, she does not plan to move back home. Instead, she proposes to Barney, an outrageous action given the time in which she lives, telling him that she is dying and just wants to enjoy the remaining time she has left. She confesses that she has fallen in love with him but tells him that she does not expect him to feel the same. He agrees to marry her. Valancy's family is horrified that she has married such a disreputable man (even though none of them can say anything he has actually done wrong) and effectively disowns her. Barney takes Valancy to his home on a wooded island, which Valancy comes to see as being very like the Blue Castle she used to escape to in her imagination, and together they get along very well, though he forbids her to enter a certain room in the house. They share wonderful conversations and take long walks on the island, and she quotes to him from books by her favorite author, John Foster, who writes about the great beauty of nature. Foster's books were one of the few enjoyments allowed to her when Valancy lived with her family. They celebrate Christmas, and he gives her a necklace of pearl beads. Just as the year she was given to live is almost over, Valancy gets her shoe stuck in a train track and is nearly killed by an oncoming train. Barney saves her in the nick of time, risking his own life to do so. After the shock passes, Valancy realizes that she should have died because the doctor had told her any sudden shock would kill her. Barney is likewise stunned by the experience because he realizes that he has come to love Valancy, who, he believes, must soon die from her heart condition. Instead of telling Valancy how he feels, he retreats to his beloved woods to think. Valancy assumes that he has left because, having married her out of pity, he now realizes he is trapped in a marriage he doesn't want. Valancy goes back to the doctor, who realizes that he sent Valancy a letter with a diagnosis meant for a Miss Sterling, who did have a fatal heart condition; Valancy's condition was never serious. As she arrives home from the doctor, with Barney still away, she finds a gaudily dressed man waiting near their home. He introduces himself as Barney's father, Dr. Redfern, the millionaire who invented Redfern's Purple Pills and other patent medicines. Years ago, Barney left town abruptly without word to his father, who had no way of tracking him down until Barney withdrew $15,000 from his bank account to buy Valancy's necklace, alerting his father to his whereabouts. Barney's father wants him to come back to him, as Barney is the only family he has. Thinking that Barney believes she tricked him into marriage, Valancy decides to leave him and return to her mother's house so he can be free. While searching for a pencil to write Barney an explanatory note, she goes into his secret room and finds that he is also John Foster, the author of her favorite books. She writes the note and leaves behind the necklace. Valancy reveals to her family that Barney is a millionaire and the son of the famous Dr. Redfern, as well as the noted literary figure John Foster to boot. Barney's millionaire status instantly erases any misgivings her family had about him, and they are determined that Barney and Valancy must stay together. Barney rushes to the house to see Valancy and asks her to come back. At first she refuses, believing that he is only asking her out of pity. When he becomes angry at her, thinking that she is refusing him because she is ashamed of his father's patent medicine business, she realizes he does really love her and agrees to come back to him. At the ending, Barney tells Valancy how much he loves her and how badly he wants to spend the rest of his life with her. The book closes with Valancy and Barney getting ready to leave on a global trip for further adventures while her "own Blue Castle," their home on Barney's small island, will be waiting for their return. 

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In the first novel in the series, Jo, Bessie and Fanny (updated in later editions to Joe, Beth and Frannie) move to the countryside, near a large wood. One day, they go for a walk in the wood and discover an enormous tree whose branches seem to reach into the clouds. This is the Faraway Tree. When the children climb the Faraway Tree, they discover it is a very strange tree; it grows apples, pears, nuts, acorns, oak leaves and all sorts! Different magical creatures, including Moon-Face, Silky the fairy, The Saucepan Man, Dame Washalot, Mr. Watzisname and the Angry Pixie live there. They become friends with these people, in particular Moon-Face and Silky. At the very top of the tree, they discover a ladder which leads them to magical lands. The land is different on each visit, because each place moves on from the top of the tree to make way for a new land. The children are free to come and go, but they must leave before the land moves on or they will be stuck there until the land returns to the Faraway Tree. In various chapters, one of the children gets stuck in the land. The lands at the top are sometimes extremely unpleasant – for example the Land of Dame Slap, an aggressive school teacher; and sometimes fantastically enjoyable – notably the Land of Birthdays, the Land of Goodies, the Land of Take-What-You-Want and the Land of Do-As-You-Please. The first land the three children visit is the Roundabout Land, where they give some cake to two rabbits, and the rabbits dig a hole for themselves and the three children. The last land they visit in this book is the Land of Birthdays, where the brownies and the inhabitants of the Faraway Tree celebrate Bessie's birthday. 

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During Labor Day weekend in 1946, young, virginal Ida Parsons innocuously plays as her father hosts a raucous party at his home on Lake Michigan. Amid the festivities, an older, drunken man named Tom Rice staggers outside and propositions Ida. When she refuses, he chases her into the woods and brutally rapes her; her dogs break out of their pen and they attack and fatally maul Ida's rapist. Thirty-six years later in 1982, Waspy brothers Eric and Nick are borrowing their father's yacht to take their girlfriends, Sandy and Donna, on a weekend outing along with their sister, Carla to St. Martin Island. At the outset of the trip. As the tensions rise between Nick and Eric, Donna and Sandy engage in girl-talk, and geeky Carla silently laments that she is the sole member of the cruise who came along without a significant other. That night, fog settles in; Eric and Nick, hearing cries out on the water, discover and rescue a shipwrecked fisherman named Bert. Bert informs them that he wrecked offshore Dog Island, the home of lumber baroness Ida Parsons, who has used her family fortune to hole herself up on the island for the past thirty-five years; only making two annual voyages onto the mainland for necessary supplies, and never speaking to anyone during these trips. Recovering from the onset of hypothermia, Bert tells the quintet a campfire story about the savagery of the wild dogs which roam Ida's island, acting as her sentries. Wrecking their boat after Nick, in a panic, attempts to steer the boat back to the mainland. Donna, Eric, Sandy, Nick, and Bert wash up on so-called "Dog Island;" Bert has been seriously wounded, and Carla is nowhere to be found. Nick wanders off into the woods, and is subsequently killed by a hulking figure that breaks down the shed where Nick hides. The next morning, Sandy and Eric go off onto the island, hoping that Ida Parsons will help them get back to the mainland. Shortly after they leave the beach, Bert goes into shock, and Donna desperately tries to warm him. Seconds later, the same figure which killed Nick sneaks up behind Donna and Bert, fatally hurling Donna against a rock wall and decapitating Bert. At the center of the island, Sandy and Eric discover Ida's fortified cabin, as well as the fact that all of Ida's dogs have died long ago, their mutilated skeletons lying in their pens. In Ida's boathouse, the duo discover Carla alive hiding under a tarp; she apparently washed up at another point on the beach and made it to the compound in the middle of the night. In the course of exploring Ida's compound, Eric, Sandy and Carla discover a dust-covered nursery full of antique toys, and a cobweb-covered crib; they also discover Ida Parson's diary, which contains insane, rambling passages about giving birth to a sick child, which she intends to keep sinless by secluding him from all the evils of the outside world. As they continue exploring the house, Sandy comes across Ida's skeletal corpse in repose in her bedroom. The group decides to collect supplies and head back to the shore to collect the rest of their party so they can formulate an escape from the island in Ida's old rowboat. While exploring the basement, they discover the corpses of Nick and Donna and flee to the beach in a panic. Eric and Sandy deduce that Ida Parson's 35-year-old mutant son was the one behind the murders, left insane by his life of solitude under the care of the imbalanced Ida; with nothing to do but learn from Ida and explore the wilderness, he's become immensely strong, a capable tracker and hunter, and is thoroughly convinced that all outsiders are a threat to him and his mother. With the death of Ida, he was left without any basis for reality, and ended up eating the dogs to survive. Eric and Sandy go back to the house and get the matches that Sandy dropped earlier. Ida's son attacks, breaking down the door. Eric attempts to fight using a broken branch, but the mutant grapples with him and fatally breaks Eric's back; and chases Sandy upstairs into his mother's bedroom, where she wraps a blanket around her head and, playing Ida, convinces the mutant to leave his mother's bedroom. When Sandy leaves, the mutant pursues her to the boathouse, where she runs headlong into Carla. The mutant grabs Carla and crushes her face and kills her. Sandy manages to lure the man into Ida's boathouse, which she sets on fire; although severely burned in the blaze, he still manages to attack Sandy, chasing her up a hill where she yanks a sharp signpost from the ground and impales him. As he dies, his burned, deformed face is finally seen. Traumatized by the death of her friends and the killing she has been forced to commit, Sandy sits alone on Ida's dock, strongly resembling a scarred and traumatized Ida. 

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The story starts out in a small town in North Carolina with Carolyne Lovejoy (Carroll), a schoolteacher, singing in the church choir at the local church. It is later revealed that she is having an intense affair with the pastor, Reverend Henderson (Dick Anthony Williams) who is also the state senator-elect. Carolyne later comes home to find her younger sister (who she raised after the death of their parents), 20-year old Sissy (Cara), with her boyfriend, Johnny. It is expressed that Sissy is an aspiring ice skater, but Carolyne wants her to follow in her footsteps and become a schoolteacher. Their battle continues throughout the movie. Later their estranged sister, Frieda (Cash), who has been living 13 years in the slums of Detroit, shows up with her 12-year-old son, Danny (Kristoff St. John). They decide to stay for a while because Danny has had some trouble with the law and Frieda wants to give him a fresh start in a new environment. While all trying to co-exist in the same house, the sisters' lives turn upside down. Frieda suggest the idea of selling their childhood, stating their youngest sister will be out on her own soon and all the space isn't need for just Carolyne. Frieda emerges as the troubled black sheep, while Carolyne is knocked off her martyr pedestal when the minister succumbs to Frieda's seduction. Sissy learns that their father never wanted another daughter, but had hoped she would be the son that eluded him. Their mother tried to abort her. After a physical altercation with Frieda and Carolyne, Frieda and Sissy decided to leave. The movie ends with Sissy leaving for New York and Frieda deciding to stay and work things out with Carolyne. 

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When Yuna Lee's mother moves to Germany to pursue a music degree, Yuna is left to stay with her father, a university professor, and her three older brothers, who are overprotective of her. During her summer vacation, she visits her mother in Germany, where she falls off a cliff and is rescued by Rieno, an 18-year-old knight living in the land of Phantasma. Rieno makes a deal with Yuna that, because he has saved her life, she must become his queen. Indebted to him for saving her life, Yuna is torn between her normal world back home and life as Phantasma's Queen. 

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Daffy tries to convince Leon Schlesinger that he should become the new star of Warner Bros. cartoons Daffy wants to be the top star in the studio. To this end, he persuades Porky to resign from the Schlesinger studios to pursue a career in feature films as Bette Davis' co- star {"Three grand a week!"}. Porky goes to Leon Schlesinger and asks to have his contract torn up. Schlesinger reluctantly agrees, and wishes Porky the best of luck. Once Porky is out of earshot, Schlesinger assures the audience that Porky will be back. Porky spends the rest of the film trying to get into the lots and sets of an unnamed studio, with little success. After several failures from convincing the security guard (played by Michael Maltese, voiced by Mel Blanc) to let him in, dressing up as Oliver Hardy to gain access, (until the guard realizes the real Hardy already entered the studio) and inadvertently interrupting the shooting of a dance film, he decides to see if Schlesinger will take him back. He returns to Schlesinger's office after frantically dodging his cartooned car in and out of live-action Los Angeles traffic, only to see Daffy doing a wild audition to become the new star of Warner Bros. cartoons, openly disparaging Porky. Porky then takes Daffy with him to another room, where he beats Daffy up. After this, he hurriedly runs into Schlesinger's office to beg for his job back. Schlesinger, laughing heartily and saying he knew he would return, reveals that he did not really rip up Porky's contract, and happily tells him to get back to work. Porky gladly thanks him and runs back into the animation paper that he was in when the short started. Daffy, still not quite having learned his lesson after being beaten up by Porky, again attempts to persuade Porky to resign and work with Greta Garbo, only to get splattered with a tomato, which irritates him. 

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During a field trip to an archeological dig, Cartman discovers a mysterious stone triangle, which he promptly throws away without interest. Shortly after Kyle picks it up, the guide identifies the writing on the triangle as Anasazi. Kyle appears on television to discuss the find, resulting in a jealous Cartman wanting the triangle back. Cartman constantly pesters Kyle until he returns the triangle to him. Meanwhile, Leonard Maltin comes to South Park and asks Chef whether he has seen Barbra Streisand. Maltin, having seen Kyle and the triangle on television, tells Chef the boys are in great danger. Streisand herself finds the boys at the bus stop and demands the "Triangle of Zinthar", and gets aggravated when they reject her. As they search for Streisand, Maltin tells Chef she is seeking the boys' triangle to complete a powerful and ancient relic, the "Diamond of Pantheos", which will allow her to become an evil and dangerous creature capable of conquering the world. He explains that the diamond was originally split into two pieces and hidden at different points of the world, but Streisand had managed to find the first of the two. Streisand later dons a disguise and visits the boys again, offering them a monetary reward for the triangle. Stan, Kenny and Kyle are suspicious, but Cartman insists they go along for the money. Streisand takes them to her condo in the mountains, where she ties the boys up and tortures them with her singing voice. Cartman relents and gives up the triangle. Streisand uses the triangle to complete the diamond, transforming herself into a giant mechanical dinosaur version of herself, Mecha-Streisand, and begins to lay waste to South Park with her new form. Maltin and Chef arrive to free the boys, and Maltin asks Chef to call Robert Smith of The Cure for help. Maltin then transforms into a giant robot to battle Mecha-Streisand, but is quickly defeated. The boys evade fiery debris from the fight, but Kenny is killed when he stops to play tetherball and gets strangled by the rope. Actor Sidney Poitier arrives and turns into a giant fanged turtle to fight Mecha-Streisand, but he too is easily defeated. After getting a call from the boys and Chef, Robert Smith arrives and transforms into a giant moth creature. During the ensuing battle, Smith-Moth manages to punch the Diamond of Pantheos away from Mecha-Streisand before flinging her into outer space, where she explodes and dies. The townspeople, including Jesus, joyfully praise Smith as a hero. As the singer walks off into the sunset, Kyle calls out "Disintegration is the best album ever!". The boys split the diamond again to try to prevent anyone else from getting its power and throw the pieces in the trash can. However, Kyle's little brother Ike finds the pieces of the diamond in the trash, resulting in the episode ending with the boys cowering in the presence of a new foe: Mecha-Ike. 

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The bumbling bachelor, Rex Nebular, has been hired by Colonel Stone to retrieve a vase that holds some sentimental value for 75,000 galactars. Rex agrees and sets out for the last known location of the vase. Rex discovers that the planet where the vase was last known to reside has vanished, but his ship's sensors still detect a planetary mass and gravitational field, invisible to the naked eye. Suddenly a large warship decloaks behind him, and fires. His ship is badly damaged and is send crash landing on the strange planet, seemingly inhabited by women only. Decades ago, a vicious war between the sexes erupted on the planet. In the end, the females wiped out the male population with bio- weapons. As a result, the females were no longer able to give birth, so they had no way of continuing their species. They invented a machine that would allow them to alter their sex for short periods of time. This machine became known as the Cosmic Gender Bender (or the Gender Bender for short). The populace of the planet is divided into two classes, Keepers and (breeding) Stock. The Keepers are technologically advanced and reside underground, where they monitor the Stock. The Stock reside above ground and have a primitive culture. Their only purpose is to be impregnated by a gender bent Keeper in order to repopulate the planet. 

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In February 1988, two pilots in a flight simulator face the challenge of landing a crippled jet that experiences a cabin decompression, an engine fire and a loss of hydraulics. The three simulated emergencies foreshadow the events of Paradise Airlines Flight 243, taking place two months later. Three crew members: Madeleine "Mimi" Tompkins (Connie Sellecca), Captain Robert "Bob" Schornstheimer (Wayne Rogers) and Flight Attendant Michelle Honda (Ana Alicia) are flying together on Paradise Airlines Flight 243. First Officer pilot Tompkins has been selected for training to become a full Captain in the airline, having been the first female pilot to be hired by Paradise in 1979. Paradise Airlines 243 is an inter-island flight from Honolulu to Hilo, with a return to Honolulu the same day. The flight takes off over Hilo, and soon beverage service begins. During that time, nothing out of the ordinary occurs, but soon after, David Kornberg (Will Estes), a young boy travelling with his mother (Jane Daly), calls the lead flight attendant, C.B. Lansing (Nancy Kwan) and asks her about the crack appearing in the ceiling. At that moment, chaos breaks loose and the entire front and top half section of the airliner, apart from the cockpit and cargo hold, blows off in a clean separation. In the chaos, Michelle falls to the floor and clings to a passenger's seat, C.B. is blown from the aircraft off-screen, and passengers are badly injured from debris and decompression. The third flight attendant Jane Sato-Tomita (Patty Toy) is thrown to the cabin floor and sustains serious head injuries, clinging to other passengers to avoid the same fate as C.B. The cockpit crew is unaware of the full scale of the disaster and believe a bomb or decompression has occurred. Soon passengers seated in the section that was not swept away have oxygen masks fall but it is useless as all the lines were destroyed. However, the aircraft was at a low altitude thus it had not affected them as badly. Mimi and Bob contact Kahului Airport to declare an emergency. Soon, the pilots are faced with the fact they may crash and passengers would die, and both Mimi and Bob have flashbacks to her training days and his US Air Force times, respectively. Michelle has a flashback to walking the shoreline with her father who as a soldier in the Army, has died. Jane's injuries worsen and Michelle struggles to climb to her and help her. Later, she also feels she might lose it from the chaos and picks up the call phone only to find it dead. Dorothy Hendricks (Herta Ware) leans out of the airliner and appears to have a state of shock before her husband George (Jack Murdock) notices and pulls her back inside. Michelle then begins to instruct the passengers on a possible crash landing or water landing and passes out life jackets. Gail Kornberg becomes hysterical when she cannot get a life jacket for David, but soon is calmed by Michelle. Roy Wesler (Glenn Cannon) panics when he sees hydraulic fluid leaking from the wings. The tower alerts Kahului Fire and Rescue personnel and they arrive before the crippled jet lands. Finally after several tense minutes, Mimi and Bob are able to figure out a plan for the emergency. After some time, the airliner lands but with difficulties in the brakes and hydraulics. The pilots were worried that the landing might result in a broken aircraft and fire, but miraculously their landing resulted in no deaths and the emergency notification allowed crews to treat and evacuate passengers immediately. 

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Rayne is an unholy breed of human and vampire known as a dhampir. Dhampir are unaffected by crucifixes and do not thirst for human blood, but maintain a vampire weakness to holy water. She is the daughter of the Vampire King, Kagan, who has gathered an army of thralls, both vampire and human, in order to annihilate the human race. She was conceived when Kagan raped her mother, and she later witnessed him killing her when she rejected his advances. Sebastian, Vladimir, and Katarin are three members of the Brimstone Society, a group of warriors sworn to fight vampires. They hear of a carnival freak who may be a dhampir, so Vladimir plans to recruit her in order to kill Kagan. Kagan is also hunting for her, fearing she will interfere with his plans. Rayne escapes captivity at the carnival when her keeper tries to rape her. On the road, she encounters and saves a family being attacked by vampires. A fortune teller reveals to Rayne that Kagan has become the most powerful vampire in the land and resides in a well-protected castle. She tells Rayne that Kagan seeks an ancient talisman, a mystical eye, and if she finds it, it would allow her to gain an audience with him. Rayne sets out to the monastery where it is hidden to find it. Rayne shelters for the night at the monastery and later sneaks away to where the talisman is guarded by a hammer-wielding, deformed monk, who she kills. The talisman is further protected by booby traps, and when Rayne lifts it from its pedestal, the chamber floods with holy water. As Rayne hangs from the ceiling to avoid the water, the talisman falls from the box but she catches the eyeball. Examining it closely, the eye magically becomes absorbed into her own eye, and when she falls into the water she is somehow unaffected by it. When she leaves the chamber, the monks explain the artifact is one of three body parts which came from an ancient vampire called Belial, who had found a way to overcome the weaknesses of a vampire. The eye overcomes holy water, the rib overcomes the cross, and the heart overcomes sunlight. When Belial died, the parts of his body were hidden across the land. As Kagan desires all these parts in order to assume Belial's powers, it becomes the heroes' mission to stop him. Rayne is brought to the headquarters of the Brimstone Society and they agree to work together to kill Kagan. Katarin does not trust Rayne and betrays Brimstone to her father, Elrich, who has fallen in league with Kagan, but seeks to betray him and gain power for himself. The location of the heart talisman is known to Katarin as her grandfather hid it in water-filled caves. She seeks it out but Rayne kills her and takes it. With the talisman, Rayne attempts to gain an audience before Kagan, but he takes the heart and throws her in the dungeon. He plans to extract the eye as part of a ritual. He realizes too late that Rayne had only given him an empty box and not the heart. Sebastian and Vladimir intervene, battling Kagan and his minions, but both are fatally wounded, leaving Rayne in a final battle against Kagan. As Sebastian dies he fires a final bolt from his crossbow, but Kagan is too quick and is able to catch it. Rayne is able to summon her last reserves of strength and plunge the bolt into his heart. The battle ends, and Sebastian chooses to die rather than let Rayne save him. Rayne seats herself in Kagan's throne, and reflects on the events that led to her father's death. Rayne then leaves the castle and rides off into the mountains. 

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Michael Baskin is an average 11-year-old boy. His father, Billy Baskin, is a struggling artist and temporary sole caregiver of the children while his wife attends to the needs of her recently deceased father in Australia. Upon hearing the news that an abandoned mansion has recently burned down, Michael and his friend Connie decide to explore the remains. Outside the mansion, Connie dares Michael to take a look inside, leading to a frightening encounter with the ghosts of its homeless inhabitants who had died in the fire. Michael does not know this yet, but his fearsome run in with the ghosts has given him a mysterious illness simply known as "The Fright". Michael wakes up the next morning to find out that "The Fright" has made him lose all of his hair. After a failed attempt with a wig (his wig was pulled off by an older boy during a fight in a soccer game), the ghosts visit Michael in his sleep and give him the recipe of a magical formula for hair growth, the main ingredient of which is peanut butter. Michael's first attempt to make the formula is thwarted when his father and sister think he is making something to ingest (rather than use topically) and dispose of it. The ghosts return the following night, giving themselves a second chance to pay him back for giving his money to some homeless people, and also give Michael special instruction not to add too much peanut butter, as it will end in dreadful results. Michael successfully makes the formula this time, but ignores their instructions not to overdo the peanut butter, and wakes up the next morning to find that his new hair has already begun to grow. After only a few minutes, Michael has grown a full head of hair. Suspicious of his fast growing follicles, Connie confronts Michael about his unusual ability. When Michael reveals to him his concoction, Connie decides to apply some to his pubic area, in an attempt to create the illusion that he's going through puberty. Connie soon discovers that the joke is on him. Pretty soon, Michael and Connie's hair grows to such lengths that it has become a nuisance for the school and their classmates, resulting in their suspensions. While Michael frantically searches for a solution, Connie discovers that the hair will stop growing by yelling at it. The art teacher at Michael's school, simply called the Signor, frightens children and forbids them from using their imagination. After getting fired from the school, the Signor finds out about Michael's condition and kidnaps him (and many other neighborhood children) to make magic paint brushes from Michael's ever-growing hair, in which he subdues Michael with a knockout drug. The kidnapped children are put to work under tough conditions. "We have to make 500 brushes a day, or we don't eat!" The paintbrushes are so powerful that they paint whatever their user imagines without need for detail or neatness. Connie, and Michael's sister, Suzie, discover the Signor's magical paintbrush factory and try to rescue Michael and the other kids. Connie tries to use force, but he is overpowered by Signor and his dog James. Instead, Connie tricks the Signor into painting a picture of the abandoned mansion. Connie then dares him to investigate inside, leading "The Fright" to be passed on from Michael to the Signor. The Signor, now bald, escapes from the haunted house and chases the children, locking them up. Just as Connie is about to escape with Michael, Susan and their dad find the factory and the Signor is arrested by the local police. The film ends with the family reunited as the mother has returned home, and Michael's hair has stopped growing out of control. 

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When the galaxy's most skilled hunter is asked to use his skill to protect an important political mission, he realizes that he needs specialized aid. Thus Billy Singer must seek the shape-shifting telepathic creature only known as "Cat", whom he had caught and trapped for a museum. Cat agrees to help on the condition that, once the mission is over, he be given the chance to hunt his former captor. Billy accepts Cat's offer. However, Billy has been growing increasingly fatalistic in the time leading up to the story, and originally offers to let Cat kill him with no struggle. Cat, a hunter refuses, encouraging Billy to flee. Billy does so, but remains fatalistic, with Cat reading in his mind a wish to die and his foreknowledge of a final location. Billy must reconcile his personal chindi to evade Cat. Billy turns increasingly primitive, away from the technology of the day, and eventually returns to his Navajo roots. Traveling across the world using teleportation technology, he eventually comes to Canyon de Chelly where he regresses to a state where he can, or believes he can, walk in the spirit world. At the same time, a collection of psychics try to pool their powers to help him and to attack Cat. Cat is able to kill one by destroying his mind, but even so the dead man seems to linger as a part of their group consciousness. Billy is eventually able to kill Cat, but then has to face his chindi, who is his deathwish, in a battle that pits him against his own shadow. The novel ends with Billy apparently united with his other self. 

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A galactic confederation of alien civilizations exchanges the star-stone and the Rhennius machine, mysterious alien artifacts, for the Mona Lisa and the British Crown Jewels as part of the process of admitting Earth to its organization. The star-stone is missing, and Fred Cassidy, a perpetual student and acrophile, is the last known person to have seen it. Various criminals, Anglophile zealots, government agents and aliens torture, shoot, beat, trick, chase, terrorize, assault telepathically, stalk, and importune Fred in attempts to get him to tell them the location of the stone. He denies any knowledge of its whereabouts, and decides to make his own investigation. Through the examination of an alien telepath, Fred finds out that the star- stone entered his body through a wound while he was asleep. An alien agent, a representative of the Whillowhim culture, attempts to steal the stone when it is removed from Fred’s body. The Whillowhim seek to limit the power of an alliance of newer, less-developed members of the galactic coalition, and its theft would temporarily stop the entry of Earth to the organization. In a struggle atop the building housing the Rhennius machine, the Whillowhim agent falls to its death. Fred accepts a position as alien cultural expert for the legation of the U.S. to the United Nations. The star-stone, now identified with the name Speicus, is a sentient, telepathic sociological life-form that can gather and analyze information and make reports using Fred as its host. 

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{|class="toccolours" style="float: left; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 2em; font-size: 85%; background:#c6dbf7; color:black; width:25em; max-width: 25%;" cellspacing="4" |style="text-align: left;"| You are a playboy and a dilettante, with no real desire ever to work, to hold a job, to repay society for suffering your existence. You are an opportunist. You are irresponsible. You are a drone. |- |style="text-align: right;"|— Doorways in the SandZelazny 1976, p.7 |} The will of Fred Cassidy’s cryogenically-frozen uncle provides him with a generous stipend to attend the university until he is awarded an academic degree. By carefully choosing his courses and changing majors, Fred avoids mandatory graduation for thirteen years. He meets with his new academic counselor, Dennis Wexroth, who is infuriated by what he calls Fred’s “dronehood”Zelazny 1976, p. 9 (See text box.) and threatens to send him off into the real world by graduating Fred in the coming semester. Fred, however, finds a way to get enough credits in different majors to avoid graduation. Fred goes to his apartment and finds it ransacked. He examines the apartment, but finds nothing missing. Paul Byler, Fred’s geology teacher comes out of a closet. He slaps Fred around demanding the return of a replica he made of the crystalline star- stone. Byler is a world-renowned expert in crystallography and says he makes copies of the star-stone in order to sell them as novelty items. Fred states that the replica is not in the apartment and maybe his ex-roommate has it. Byler does not believe Fred. After a brief fight Fred escapes through a window to an outside ledge. Byler visits Hal Sidmore, Fred’s ex-roommate, roughs him up and demands the model of the star-stone. Hal insists he does not have it saying that Fred probably has it in their old apartment. Previously, during a poker game, Byler gives the copy of the star-stone to Hal. However, Hal switches it without Byler's knowledge for what he thinks is a better model, but is in fact the star-stone itself. Arriving home Fred sees a news story on television reporting Byler’s murder and the odd removal of some of his vital organs. As part of his study plan Fred goes to the desert in Australia to study ancient carvings on a cliff. Zeemeister and Buckler, two professional criminals, arrive and torture Fred for the location of the star-stone. Two alien law officers, Charv and Ragma, disguised as a wombat and a kangaroo respectively save Fred, and they all go into orbit in their spacecraft. Later, as he comes slowly into consciousness a voice instructs Fred that he should not permit the aliens to take him to another world where they want to telepathically examine his mind for clues to the whereabouts of the star- stone. Fred convinces them that it would be against their alien field regulations to take him without his consent. They return him to Earth. After being set down on Earth, Fred goes to visit Hal who reports that he receives phone calls from various people trying find Fred. People break into and ransack his apartment several times. And that Ted Nadler, a State Department employee, is looking for him. Finding himself intoxicated Fred stays the night with Hal and hears the voice, now identifying itself as Speicus, that has been talking to him. It tells him to test the inversion program of the alien Rhennius machine and then get intoxicated. It is easier for Speicus to talk to Fred if he is drunk. Fred breaks into the room with the Rhennius machine and, hanging from a rope from the ceiling, puts a penny through the machine three times. The first time Lincoln is looking backwards and the ONE is also backwards. The second time the penny is incised like an intaglio. The third time returns it to normal. Fred goes bar-crawling to get drunk as Speicus instructs him. He runs into a shady old school adviser named Doctor Mérimée who tells him he is being followed. He joins Mérimée at a party at his apartment, finishes getting drunk, and falls asleep. On waking Fred remembers a communication with Speicus during the night. According to Speicus, reversing himself through the Rhennius machine will put "everything in proper order.”Zelazny 1976, p. 79 By subterfuge Fred manages to reverse himself by going through the Rhennius machine. Left is right and vice versa, and letters are read backwards from right to left with the letters turned backwards. He remembers his biochemistry and realizes that this reversal can be dangerous to his health. Meanwhile, Ted Nadler convinces the university to award Fred a Ph.D. in Anthropology. This outrages Fred because he loses his uncle’s stipend and has to get a job. Fred calls Hal and they agree to meet in a secret place. They begin driving, aimlessly Fred thinks. Hal explains that Zeemeister and Buckler have his wife, Mary, and are demanding the star-stone. He has another replica of the stone from Byler’s lab and is going to trade it for Mary. Fred agrees to go along with the plan against his better judgment. They go to a beach cottage where they find Zeemeister, Buckler, a cat and Mary. Zeemeister declares the stone to be a fake and threatens to pull Mary’s fingernails off until they tell him where the star-stone is. Paul Byler, brought back to life by multiple organ transplants, enters through the back of the cottage with a drawn gun. In the ensuing struggle Buckler shoots Fred in the chest, and he blacks out. Fred awakens in a hospital. He is alive since his heart was on the right side of his body due to the reversal, and he was shot on the left side where the heart is usually found. Everyone else from the cottage survives with minor injuries. Ted Nadler stops by Fred’s hospital room and offers him a position as alien culture specialist for the U.S. legation to the United Nations. Fred says he'll think about it. Nadler explains the history of the star-stone. The United Nations hires Byler as an expert in synthetics and crystals to make a replica for safety purposes. The loan of the British Crown Jewels to the aliens outrages Byler and some of his fanatical Anglophile friends. Byler and an accomplice exchange the real star-stone for a fake one. Byler hires Zeemeister and Buckler in their capacity as professional criminals to assist in the substitution of the stones, but they really want the original for themselves for a ransom, Nadler believes. While shaving the next morning Fred remembers a smile that remains with him from his night’s dreams. Ted Nadler and Fred travel to New York to meet with a telepath. As Fred enters his hotel room he is seized and raised into the air by the tentacles of an alien telepathic analyst who practices attack therapy. He attempts to reach into Fred’s subconscious for information about the star-stone. He is stunned to discover that the star-stone, Speicus, is inside Fred, having entered his body through a wound while Fred was asleep. Since he was reversed by the Rhennius machine Speicus is now fully functional and should be able to communicate telepathically directly and easily with Fred, but because Fred is now reversed it cannot. On the way to the Rhennius machine to have him reversed back to his original state, Speicus warns Fred about an unknown enemy by saying, “Our Snark is a Boojum.” In the building housing the Rhennius machine Doctor M’mrm’mlrr, the alien analyst, supervises the removal of the star-stone from Fred’s body. On the wall Fred sees a vision of “massive teeth framed by upward curving lips. . . .Then fading, fading. . . Gone.” Fred looks up and sees a black shape and cries out, “The smile.” Fred chases a telepathic alien disguised as a black cat up to the roof and over girders of the adjacent building. It attacks Fred and falls to its death. During the fight Fred realizes that Zeemeister and Buckler work for the alien agent called a Whillowhim. Ragma explains that the Whillowhim are one of the oldest, most powerful and entrenched cultures in the galaxy. However, there is an alliance of younger ones that back common policies in conflict with those of the older blocs. The Whillowhim belong to a faction of the galactic coalition that opposes the policies of younger, newer members on major issues. One way to limit the power of the newer, less developed planets is to limit their number. The Whillowhim seeks to steal the star-stone to embarrass Earth and delay its entrance into the coalition of planets thereby weakening the power of the newer planets’ alliance. Fred’s future is as an alien culture expert for the U.S. legation of the United Nations and as a host for Speicus. Speicus will use Fred’s nervous system as well as his broad knowledge of many subjects to gather information and process it as a kind of sociological computer. It can produce uniquely accurate and useful reports on anything they study together. In the end, Fred sees a beach with doorways leading to unique experiences in exotic places throughout the galaxy. 

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Having completed her year and a half interning in the field, Talia returns to Haven as Queen's Own Herald in right. In her absence, the Council of Valdemar has been considering an offer of an alliance marriage between Princess Elspeth and the Prince of Hardorn, a young man named Ancar. While the Council is generally in favor, Queen Selenay has her suspicions about the idea, and she and Talia overrule the Council. Meanwhile, the budding lifebond between Talia and Herald Dirk is frustrated due to a misunderstanding - Dirk thinks Talia is in love with his best friend, the handsome Herald Kris. The problems of the kingdom occupy Talia's time so completely that she cannot speak to him, nor spend as much time with the young Princess as she used to. As a result, Dirk falls into depression (worsened by the death of a young Herald who was his special pupil) and begins drinking heavily. Elspeth, through the work of a trusted Councilor, Lord Orthallen, begins spending time with unsavory young men. Dirk is falsely accused by Orthallen, and when Kris (Orthallen's nephew) does not immediately believe his innocence, the two have a falling-out. Dirk's slide into depression continues, and he neglects his health until he collapses from pneumonia. Talia becomes caught up in all of these seemingly unsolvable problems and briefly loses her emotional footing, but her friends reassure her that the lifebond will work itself out in time. Then things fall apart again; Elspeth's new circle of male friends plan to seduce and then disgrace the Princess. Talia arrives just in time; she drives off the young cad, and then she and Elspeth have an argument. Afterwards, Talia confesses what she has done to Queen Selenay, who reassures her that she did the right thing by scolding Elspeth. The Queen then sends Talia and Kris on a mission to Hardorn to investigate Prince Ancar, in case the alliance marriage could be pursued after all. Talia and Kris (who has resolved his quarrel with Dirk) arrive in Hardorn, and witness Ancar murdering his own father and the Hardornen court. As they themselves are trying to escape, Kris and his Companion are killed, and Talia, wounded, is taken prisoner. Rolan, Talia's Companion, escapes, and Talia is able to use him to deliver a message to Selenay and her retinue, who would otherwise have come into the city. Warned, the Queen stops at the border between Hardorn and Valdemar. Talia has managed to convey to them that Kris is dead and that there is no hope for her. In desperation, Dirk and Elspeth use their Gifts (she is able to see at great distances, he is able to lift and move objects with his mind) and the strength of the Companion herd to pull her out of Ancar's dungeon. She is severely injured, for Ancar has tortured and raped her, and she drank a large amount of poison as a suicide attempt. The impossible feat leaves both Elspeth and Dirk incapacitated for some time. Talia revives and remembers some information Ancar has told her; Orthallen is a secret agent who is working for Hardorn because Ancar has promised to give him the throne. Through his manipulations, he has been working in various ways to see to it that Elspeth never becomes Queen. The Princess and Talia set up a trap to reveal his guilt; when he attacks the two women, Elspeth executes him. While still in recovery, Talia makes Dirk understand that she loves him. Ancar's army marches against Selenay, but she defeats them, and the two countries settle into an uneasy standstill. The hostile situation is not completely resolved until the end of the Mage Winds trilogy. The conclusion of the book is the wedding between Talia and Dirk. 

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World-famous opera singer Alice Alquist has just been murdered at her home, No.9 Thornton Square in London. The perpetrator left without the valuable jewels, for which he had killed her, after being interrupted by Paula, Alice's fourteen-year-old niece. Paula had been raised by her aunt Alice following her mother's death. After Alice was murdered, Paula was sent to Italy to train to become an opera singer herself. Years later, an adult Paula (Ingrid Bergman) meets and marries Gregory Anton (Charles Boyer) after a two-week-long whirlwind romance. At his insistence, Paula returns to London, where she has no friends, to live in the long-vacant London townhouse of her deceased aunt Alice. To help calm her anxiety over memory of her aunt's violent murder, Gregory suggests that they store all of Alice's furnishings in the attic. Before they do, Paula discovers, in an old book, a letter addressed to her aunt by a man named Sergius Bauer. Gregory's reaction is violent. However, he explains his outburst as one of frustration at the bad memories his bride is experiencing. After Alice's belongings are locked away in the attic, events take a turn for the bizarre. At the Tower of London, Paula loses an heirloom brooch that Gregory had given her, despite its having been stored safely in her handbag just before going out. A picture disappears from its place on a wall and Gregory says that Paula took it, one of many instances of her removing and hiding things. But Paula has no recollection of having done so. Paula also hears footsteps coming from the sealed attic, and sees the gaslights dim and brighten for no apparent reason. Gregory suggests that these things exist only in her imagination. With Gregory looking on, Paula has discovered the letter from Sergis Bauer. Gregory gradually isolates his wife from the outside world, claiming that he is doing so for her own good, because her nerves have been acting up, causing her to become a kleptomaniac. He is also jealous and accusatory whenever others express an interest in her. When Gregory does take her out to a friend's party, he shows Paula his watch-chain, from which his watch has mysteriously disappeared. When Gregory finds it in her handbag, Paula becomes hysterical in front of all the guests, and Gregory takes her home. Paula begins to believe she should not go out in public. Their young maid, Nancy (Angela Lansbury), worsens the situation, as Paula becomes convinced that Nancy loathes her. Gregory tells Paula that she is paranoid and is imagining the maid's disdain, while he secretly flirts with her. Paula does not know that her husband is really Sergis Bauer, her aunt's murderer. He sought out Paula in Italy with the aim of getting Alice's jewels. He has been secretly rummaging through Alice's belongings in the attic to find the jewels which he is certain are still there. The footsteps Paula heard in the attic were actually his. The flickering gaslights which he claims she has imagined were caused by his turning on the attic lights, thus reducing the gas to the downstairs lights. The kleptomania exhibited by Paula is all sleight of hand by Gregory. Gregory employs a cunning strategy to convince his wife that she is going mad, hoping to have her institutionalized, giving him power of attorney over her and allowing him to search unabated for the jewels. The plan almost works. Paula is saved by something that happened during her trip to the Tower of London, as it also resulted in a chance encounter with Inspector Brian Cameron of Scotland Yard (Joseph Cotten), an admirer of Alice Alquist since childhood. Seeing Paula, who looks very much like her aunt, rekindles Cameron's interest in the cold case murder of Alice and her royal jewels that were never found. With the aid of a police patrolman, Cameron figures out that Gregory slips into a vacant house next door and enters his own attic via a skylight. Cameron eventually gets inside the house to see Paula and confirms that the gaslights are indeed flickering, and they discover the letter from Bauer that Gregory had told her was a figment of her imagination. That same evening, Gregory at last discovers the jewels hidden in plain sight, disguised as costume jewelry. He returns home to find that Paula has apparently been visited by another man. Though he knows that he has been discovered, he throws Paula into confusion again, telling her that everything is in her imagination. However, Cameron suddenly appears and confronts Gregory, chasing him to the attic and finally arresting him. Paula follows them and, finally convinced of her own sanity, indulges in a bit of revenge. Alone with him now bound to a chair, he tries to convince her to cut him free so that he can escape. She taunts Gregory, musing that the knife in her hand might not be real, before calling in Cameron to take him away. 

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Set in Pimlico, London, Alice Barlow (Marie Wright) is murdered by an unknown man, who then ransacks her house, looking for her valuable rubies. The house remains empty for many years, until newlyweds Paul and Bella Mallen move in. Bella (Diana Wynyard) soon finds herself misplacing small objects; and, before long, Paul (Anton Walbrook) has her believing she is losing her sanity. B. G. Rough (Frank Pettingell), a former detective involved in the original murder investigation, immediately suspects him of Alice Barlow's murder. Paul lights the gas lamps to search the closed-off upper floors, which causes the rest of the lamps in the house to dim slightly. When Bella comments on the lights' dimming, he tells her that she is imagining things. Bella is persuaded that she is hearing noises, unaware that Paul enters the upper floors from the house next door. The sinister interpretation of the change in light levels is part of a larger pattern of deception to which Bella is subjected. It is revealed that Paul is a bigamist. He is the wanted Louis Bauer, who has returned to the house to search for the rubies he was unable to find after the murder. 

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Madame Mao is born to a very poor family around 1910 (early enough to have had her feet bound although due to a severe infection the bindings were taken off). She has an abusive father who kicks her and her concubine mother out of the house at an early age. Her mother ends up as a concubine and servant and the young 'Madame Mao' runs away to her grandparents. Anchee Min, the author, seems to attribute a lot of Madame Mao's later actions to her childhood—and that a lot of her incessant claims to power actually come from a need to be desired and to feel close to Mao rather than a deep need for power herself. Madame Mao's dream is to become an actress but she only achieves mediocre success. Using the stage name Lan Ping, she spends a few years in Shandong province (where she becomes a Communist due to a lover of hers) and then Shanghai. In Shanghai she had some success in playing Nora in Henrik Ibsen's A Doll's House, and the author clearly parallels Nora's strength and inability to be controlled with Lan Ping's strong personality and need to be in control and the center of attention. The play is closed down since it is perceived to be too subversive by the authorities. She even ends up in prison for a short time but is released after signing a document denouncing Communism. After what seems like a string of rejections as well as a few serious lovers and two husbands, she travels to Yan'an, Mao's revolutionary base, to become part of his movement. The book does not offer much explanation for the switch from actress to countryside revolutionary except that she certainly had been involved in revolutionary elements (anti-Japanese plays, etc.) and that with the absence of work as an actress she did not have many options. Also, joining the Communist revolution seemed to be a common choice for young discontented students and others in their 20s. In Yan'an, she soon meets Mao as the leading actress in patriotic plays. They meet frequently and finally become lovers. Mao is still married to his second wife He Zizhen (his first died as a revolutionary), who is in Russia and mentally unstable, but by the time she returns to China, Mao and Lan Ping have married and she is put in a mental hospital. The Communist Party is very much against Mao's affair with Lan Ping, in large part because they have worked hard to build up the image of his second wife as a martyr for the cause and do not want Mao's image to be tarnished in any way as an adulterer. The Party is supposed to emphasize discipline and unity. The affair continues despite (or perhaps is enhanced because of) these odds and the disapproval of many Communists. Finally, Lan becomes pregnant and Mao is allowed to divorce He Zizhen and marry her, under the condition that she stay out of the public eye and is not involved in politics at all. Her name is changed to Jiang Qing. During the years before Communists gain full control of mainland China, the relationship seems to go well, although the passion is reduced. Jiang follows Mao everywhere, even to the field, and becomes his secretary when he is sick. However, things change once the Communists triumph. They move to the Forbidden City in Beijing and live in separate quarters. Mao begins to lead a totally separate life with much traveling and entertaining. As she is not allowed by the party to be in the public eye, she is not a part of all of this. She becomes very lonely and depressed. Mao has many affairs, especially bringing young virgins in from the countryside for his pleasure. Things last in this way for 17 years with the majority of Chinese people not even able to name the wife of the great Chairman. However, Jiang Qing has never lost her ambition to be powerful and loved and noticed. She sees a glimmer of opportunity at Mao's low point—two years after the launch of the Great Leap Forward which proved disastrous. She begins slowly to reemerge from the shadows and spends some time in Shanghai building up a network of actors and producers (her great passion is still opera and theater). Finally, she approaches Mao to reveal that a current popular play is actually subversive against the emperor. She feeds on his paranoia that those closest to him are actually plotting against him. He gives her some permission to carry on her activities and develop some propagandist plays that exalt him. Slowly she builds up her own friends and aides who can be trusted. Finally, in 1966 she is actually allowed to make an important speech and helps Mao develop the concepts behind the Cultural Revolution. Eventually, Mao puts her in charge of the 'ideology side of the business' and she wields an enormous amount of power. Madame Mao, as she is now called, organizes festivals for revolutionary plays and begins to work closely with the student movements which have always been so important in China. She organizes and speaks to rallies of thousands of people to help launch the Cultural Revolution. Finally, Mao and Jiang decide to launch a student-led army called the Red Guards that she would be in charge of. The Red Guards end up having more power than the official military for a number of years and wreak havoc throughout the country. Her relationship with Mao is no longer romantic in the least but is mutually beneficial: 'For him, it is the security of his empire that she aids and for her, the role of a heroine. In retrospect she not only has broken the Party's restriction, she runs the nation's psyche. She is gripped by the vision that she might eventually carry on Mao's business and rule China after his death. As Madame Mao's power grows, so does her worry about Mao and his constantly changing allegiances and worries about betrayals. He emphasizes that the public only trusts her because he is backing her. His dementia and paranoia grows as he ages. At one point Mao invites a bunch of the 'old boy's over for a meeting without inviting her. She says: ' I should have known that my husband was doing the two-faced trick. I should have understood that although Mao had been promoting me, my new power unnerves him and he needs to have another force to balance the game.' In Mao's final months, Madame Mao is desperate for him to name her as his successor or at the very least to give a definitive statement that she represents him. She desperately wants his power after his death but if that's not possible at the very least she needs protection from all the party members who are ready to attack her. She sends investigators to extract forced confessions from her enemies and becomes increasingly paranoid and power-obsessed herself. She forms a power circle called the Gang of Four with herself as the leader, Zhang Chunqiao (whom she found in Shanghai and gave much power to), Wang Hongwen (whom she found as a student and Mao promoted to Vice Chairman of the Communist party) and another disciple, Yao Wenyuan. In September 1976, Mao dies at the age of 83. When Mao's will is eventually found, he has named Hua Guofeng, a provincial governor from his home province, as his successor. Madame Mao had quickly sensed that her enemies would triumph—at Mao's funeral she was barely acknowledged. A few weeks after Mao's death she is arrested. Madame Mao remains in prison from 1976 to 1991. Her daughter, Li Na, picks up what Madame Mao disliked and dropped what her mother liked or wanted her to do. Madame Mao has "saved enough handkerchiefs and socks to make a rope." She commits suicide by hanging herself on May 14, 1991. She was on Death Row the whole time, although she was not executed since her captors would have preferred to extract a confession of repentance from her. 

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With their mission to capture all 624 experiments and repurpose them on Earth completed, Lilo, Stitch, Jumba and Pleakley are honored as heroes by the Galactic Alliance. Jumba is given the confiscated key to his laboratory again, Pleakley is offered a post as chairman of Earth Studies at G.A.C.C. (Galactic Alliance Community College), and Stitch is made the Captain of the Galactic Armada and commander of his newly commissioned ship BRB-9000 (Big Red Battleship 9000). Lilo is made Galactic Federation Ambassador to Earth and sole guardian of Stitch's "cousins". Before they leave, Lilo gives Jumba her favorite Elvis record, Pleakley a paperweight (which is actually an Earth rock) and Stitch a necklace with a Kū tiki (the Hawaiian god of strength). In his ship, Gantu has decided that since he failed to capture all of the experiments (except for 625), he will have to break Dr. Hämsterviel out of prison. He takes the two- man space shuttle, leaving 625 alone and helps Hämsterviel escape from prison. Stitch is then assigned to recapture Hämsterviel. Hämsterviel and Gantu burst into Jumba's lab and force Jumba to create an evil twin of Stitch, Leroy, to defeat the Galactic Alliance. Stitch arrives and after a fight, he is defeated when Pleakley appears at an inopportune moment, distracting Stitch long enough for Leroy to lock him in a glass capsule. Hämsterviel reveals his plans to clone an army of Leroys to take over the Galactic Alliance. Before leaving for Turo, Hämsterviel locks Jumba, Pleakley and Stitch in Pleakley's ship, and sends the vessel into a black hole. On Earth, Lilo decides to contact Stitch. Lilo realizes that the only intergalactic videophone on the planet available is in Gantu's ship. There, she finds 625 and asks to use the videophone. However, 625 says it is broken. Lilo then names 625 "Reuben". He thereafter consents to help Lilo. Once the videophone is fixed, Lilo contacts the BRB-9000. Leroy impersonates Stitch, using shape-shifting to disguise himself, but fails because he does not have Stitch's tiki necklace. Hämsterviel then commands Leroy to go to Earth and capture all of the other experiments to destroy them. Lilo, sensing Stitch is in trouble, asks Reuben for help in fixing Gantu's ship. As Jumba, Pleakley, and Stitch head towards the black hole, Stitch escapes and frees the others. However, the navigational computer is locked on course for the black hole and will teleport them to a volcanic planet where they will be vaporized, but if they can disrupt the event horizon by throwing a small object into the black hole, it will send them somewhere else. Pleakley pulls out the rock that Lilo gave him and asks if this will work. After Jumba says it is too heavy, Stitch takes a bite out of it, then crawls out the front of the vehicle and throws it at the black hole. There is a flash and the vehicle is sucked in. On Earth, a Leroy clone obtains Lilo's scrapbook of "cousins" and quickly captures all of them (including Mertle). Lilo and Reuben arrive at Turo, but they are too late; Hämsterviel has taken over, making the Grand Councilwoman his receptionist, and orders Gantu to lock them up. Gantu imprisons Lilo and Reuben, but decides to release them after Hämsterviel fires him. After a close call with several Leroy clones, they are trapped. All is lost until the G.A.C.C. van suddenly appears. With no time to explain, Lilo, Reuben and Gantu all climb in and head for Earth. On Earth, the original Leroy has herded all the experiments into a large stadium where "Alohapalooza" is about to take place. The BRB-9000 appears and Hämsterviel prepares to obliterate all of the experiments, until a timely appearance by Lilo, Stitch and the others and destroy the BRB's primary cannon. Hämsterviel reveals that he brought along his Leroy army as backup. Stitch rallies his "cousins" and the battle begins. Despite some initial victories by the experiments, it soon becomes apparent that the adversaries are better than them. Jumba remembers that he programmed a secret shutdown command into Leroy: if he plays Elvis Presley's "Aloha 'Oe", the others will deactivate. Stitch appears on-stage in his Elvis attire and plays "Aloha 'Oe" with Lilo and Reuben accompanying him, causing the Leroys to have violent seizures and shut down. With his plan foiled again, Hämsterviel is recaptured and sent back to prison. Back at the Galactic Alliance HQ, they are proclaimed "Heroes of the Alliance". Stitch, Jumba and Pleakley ask to be allowed to return to Earth with Lilo. The Grand Councilwoman grants this and asks Gantu if he would like to be reinstated as the Captain of the Armada. Gantu agrees on the condition that Reuben be assigned as his galley officer. Back on Earth, Lilo sets up for one last picture. Mertle arrives with Gigi (during the battle, Mertle was with Gigi and was astounded when she found that Gigi was able to talk, being one of Jumba's experiments). Lilo's last picture in the album is of all of the experiments still on Earth, Mertle, Jumba, Pleakley, Nani, David and herself. Meanwhile, Leroy and all of his clones, who have recovered from their seizures, are dancing to the song "Jailhouse Rock" (Hämsterviel angrily taps his foot to the beat). As the credits roll, a full list of Jumba's experiments 001 through 626, and the names they were given by Lilo (and other characters in some instances during Lilo & Stitch: The Series), scrolls along the left side of the screen. 

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Francesco Dellamorte (Rupert Everett) is the cemetery caretaker in the small Italian town of Buffalora. He lives in a ramshackle house on the premises, constantly surrounded by death, with only his mentally handicapped assistant Gnaghi (François Hadji-Lazaro) for company. Young punks in town spread gossip that Dellamorte is impotent. His hobbies are reading outdated telephone directories, in which he crosses out the names of the deceased, and trying to assemble a puzzle shaped like a human skull. Gnaghi can speak only one word: "Gna." The Latin inscription over the Buffalora Cemetery gate reads RESURRECTURIS ("For those who will rise again"), and indeed, Dellamorte has his hands full. Some people rise from their graves within seven nights following their deaths, as aggressive zombies. Dellamorte destroys these creatures, which he calls "Returners", before they overrun the town. Buffalora's mayor (Stefano Masciarelli) is so fixated on his reelection campaign that he doesn't register Dellamorte's pleas for an investigation. Being an outcast in the village and almost illiterate, Dellamorte doesn't want to lose his job. He opens up to his only friend, Franco, a municipal clerk, but doesn't file the paperwork to get assistance. He explains, "It's easier just to shoot them." At a funeral, Dellamorte falls in love with the unnamed young widow (Anna Falchi) of a rich, elderly man. She is won over when Dellamorte tells her about the ossuary, which she adores. While consummating their relationship by her husband's grave, the undead husband arises and bites her. She seems to die from the bite, but the coroner claims it was a heart attack. Fearing the worst, Dellamorte stays near her corpse, and shoots her when she rises. Gnaghi becomes infatuated with the mayor's teen daughter, Valentina (Fabiana Formica), but she is tragically decapitated in a motorcycle accident. Undeterred, Gnaghi digs up her reanimated head and begins an innocent romance. The relationship is cut short, however, when the mayor finds out and Valentina rips out his throat with her teeth. Dellamorte is forced to shoot her. The young widow also rises again, causing Dellamorte to believe she was not really a zombie when he first shot her, in which case it was he who killed her. He plummets into a depression and is visited by the leering figure of Death, who tells him to "Stop killing the dead" and suggests shooting the living instead. Dellamorte encounters two more unnamed women, also played by Falchi. The first is an assistant to the new mayor. She confesses to Dellamorte that she is terrified of sexual penetration, so Dellamorte demands to have his penis removed by the local doctor. Refusing to do so, the doctor instead gives him an injection to induce temporary impotence. Meanwhile, the woman has been raped by and fallen in love with her employer. Having lost her phobia, she plans to marry her rapist and discards the cemetery man. His grip on reality slipping, Dellamorte heads into town at night and shoots the young men who have made fun of him for years. He meets a third manifestation of the woman he loves but, upon learning she is a prostitute, kills her and two other women by setting their house on fire. His friend Franco (Anton Alexander) is accused of these murders after killing his wife and child, and attempts suicide. Dellamorte goes to visit Franco in the hospital. Sitting by the hospital bed, he casually murders a nun, a nurse, and a doctor. Franco claims to not recognize him. Distraught and confused, Dellamorte screams out a confession, but is ignored. Gnaghi and Dellamorte pack up their car, and leave Buffalora. Gnaghi's head is injured when Dellamorte slams on the brakes. They get out of the vehicle and walk to the edge of the road, where it drops into a chasm. Gnaghi begins to seize and collapses to the ground. Dellamorte realizes that the rest of the world doesn't exist. Fearing his assistant is dying, he loads a gun with two dumdum bullets to finish them both off. However, Dellamorte cannot bring himself to shoot his friend. Gnaghi wakes up, drops the gun off the cliff, and asks to be taken home, speaking clearly for the first time. Dellamorte replies: "Gna." As the credits roll, the camera zooms out to reveal the two men standing in a snow globe. 

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In Transylvania in 1804, a lone figure makes his way through the countryside and into the towering Castle Dracula, where he summons Dracula. The figure announces, in his own language, that his name is Kah, a Taoist monk and the High Priest of the Temple of the Seven Golden Vampires in rural China. He goes on to tell the Count that the Seven Golden Vampires' power is fading and he needs him to restore them to their former glory. Dracula considers the offer and accepts on one condition: that he uses Kah's body to escape his castle, which has become his prison. Despite Kah's pleas for mercy, the vampire displaces himself into Kah's body and then triumphantly leaves the tomb for China. In 1904 Professor Van Helsing (Peter Cushing) gives a lecture at a Chungking university on Chinese vampire legends. He speaks of an unknown rural village that has been terrorised by a cult of seven known as the Seven Golden Vampires for many years. A farmer who had lost his wife to the vampires trekked his way to the temple of the vampires and battled them. He was unsuccessful, as his wife was killed in the fight, but in the chaos he grabbed a medallion from around one of the vampire's necks, which he saw as the vampires' life source. The farmer fled the temple, but the High Priest sent the vampires and their former victims after him. About to be cornered, the farmer placed the medaillon around a small statue of a jade Buddha before the vampires and their army of undead caught up with him and killed him. One of the vampires spied the medallion around the Buddha and went over to collect it. However, the moment that the vampire touched the Buddha, the creature was destroyed in flames. Van Helsing goes on to say that he is positive that the village still exists and is terrorized by the six remaining vampires; he is only unsure of where the village lies. Most of the students disbelieve the story and leave, but a student named Hsi Ching (David Chiang) visits Van Helsing and informs him that the farmer from the story was his grandfather. He proves it by producing the dead vampire's bat-like medallion, and asks Van Helsing if he would be willing to travel to the village and destroy the vampire menace. Van Helsing agrees and embarks with his son Leyland (Robin Stewart), Hsi Ching, and his seven kung fu-trained siblings on a dangerous journey, funded by a wealthy widow named Vanessa Buren (Julie Ege), whom Leyland and two of Ching's siblings saved from an attack by the tongs. On the journey, they are ambushed by three of the six remaining vampires in a cave, along with their army of undead. The group are quickly engaged in battle and soon kill the three vampires. The remaining three retreat, taking their army of undead with them. The following morning, the party reaches the village, partly ruined but still populated, and prepares to make their final stand. They use wooden stakes as barriers and dig a large trench around them filled with flammable liquid. In the temple that evening, Dracula, still disguised as Kah, calls on the remaining vampires to kill Van Helsing and his party once and for all. The vampires reach the village, and soon Van Helsing's group once again do battle with the last of the golden vampires and their army of undead, resulting in nearly all of their party and the villagers being massacred. During the fight, Vanessa is bitten by one of the vampires and quickly becomes one herself. She bites Ching, and knowing what he has to do, Ching throws himself and Vanessa onto a wooden stake, impaling them both. Elsewhere, the last remaining vampire captures Ching's sister Mai Kwei (Shih Szu) and takes her back to the temple in order to be drained of her blood. Leyland steals a horse from one of the dead vampires and pursues. The army of undead defeated, Van Helsing and his remaining party follow to help Leyland at the temple. Having reached the temple, the vampire straps Mai Kwei to one of the altars. It is about to drain her blood when Leyland intervenes. Just before Leyland is about to be drained, Van Helsing and his group burst in, and Van Helsing destroys the last Golden Vampire. The survivors depart from the temple, save for Van Helsing, who feels a familiar presence and comes to face Dracula in Kah's body. Discovered, Dracula reveals his true form and attacks Van Helsing. In the ensuing struggle, Van Helsing succeeds in stabbing Dracula with a silver spear through the heart, causing the Count to turn to dust. 

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William Adamson (Mark Rylance), a naturalist, returns to Victorian England, staying with his benefactor, Sir Harold Alabaster (Jeremy Kemp). He has lost his possessions in a shipwreck, returning from an extended expedition to the Amazon. Now dependent upon his patron, William is employed to catalog Sir Harold's specimen collection and teach his younger children the natural sciences, assisting their governess, the unassuming Matty Crompton (Kristin Scott Thomas). William becomes enamoured of Sir Harold's eldest daughter, Eugenia (Patsy Kensit). Eugenia is softly spoken, anxious, and mourning the recent death of her fiancé. Despite his impoverishment, Eugenia proves receptive and accepts his marriage proposal. Although Sir Harold grants his approval, Eugenia's snobbish and spoilt brother, Edgar, (Douglas Henshall) dislikes William's humble origins. Soon after the marriage, Eugenia becomes pregnant. Eugenia's behaviour alternates between coldness, locking William out of her room, and intense sexual passion. The couple has four more children. She calls the one son, 'Edgar', in the family tradition, annoying William. He spends much of his time with the Alabaster children and Matty, observing an ant colony in the forest, with a view to writing a book. Returning via the stables from an excursion, William discovers his brother-in-law Edgar raping a teenage servant. Edgar tells William that she consented, but she is clearly terrified. William forms a bond with Matty, who encourages his scientific activities and displays a strong intelligence. The book is successfully published. One day, William is summoned from the hunt to the house by a servant who claims Eugenia wants him. Entering the bedroom, he finds Eugenia and Edgar engaging in incestuous sex. Eugenia confesses that this has occurred since childhood and that her fiancé committed suicide in consequence. She says that when it started she was too young to understand but, after she saw herself through the eyes of her fiancé, she felt guilty. In tears, Eugenia explains that she tried to stop, but that Edgar's will was too strong. William realises that he has been used to conceal the incest and that the children (who bear no resemblance to him) are Edgar's. Matty reveals her knowledge of the affair to William during a Scrabble-like game. Later, she explains that the servants were also aware and arranged for him to find out. Expressing frustration at her life and dependency on the Alabasters, Matty reveals that she has published her own book on the insects and has bought tickets for a ship for the Amazon. William is reluctant; despite his attraction, he feels that the rain forest is unsuitable for a woman. After she assures him of her strength and love for him, William acquiesces. Before leaving, William meets Eugenia and tells her he intends never to return. He also promises to keep her secret, for fear of injuring her ailing father, and hopes she may find a way to live with her guilt. The movie ends with William and Matty departing in a coach for Liverpool, eager to begin their new adventure and leave the past behind. 

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The story of a mouse's walk through the woods unfolds in two phases; in both, the mouse uses clever tricks to evade danger. On his way the mouse encounters several dangerous animals (a fox, an owl, and a snake). Each of these animals, clearly intending to eat the mouse, invites him back to their home for a meal. The cunning mouse declines each offer. To dissuade further advances, he tells each animal that he has plans to dine with his friend, a "gruffalo", a monstrous creature whose favourite food happens to be the relevant animal, and describes the features of the gruffalo's monstrous anatomy. Frightened that the gruffalo might eat it, each animal flees. Convinced the gruffalo is fictional, the mouse gloats thus: : Silly old fox/owl/snake, doesn't he know? : there's no such thing as a gruffalo! After getting rid of the last animal, the mouse is shocked to encounter a real gruffalo – with all the frightening features the mouse thought that he was inventing. The gruffalo threatens to eat the mouse, but again the mouse is cunning: he tells the gruffalo that he, the mouse, is the scariest animal in the forest. Laughing, the gruffalo agrees to follow the mouse as he demonstrates how feared he is. The two walk through the forest, encountering in turn the animals that had earlier menaced the mouse. Each is terrified by the sight of the pair and runs off – and each time the gruffalo becomes more impressed with the mouse's apparent toughness. Exploiting this, the mouse threatens to eat the gruffalo, which flees. The story is based on a Chinese folk tale of a fox that borrows the terror of a tiger. Donaldson was unable to think of rhymes for "tiger" so instead she invented a word that rhymes with "know".Information on Julia Donaldson, children's author and creator of The Gruffalo 

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Quark advises Constable Odo to lighten up, perhaps in a holosuite. Odo dismisses imagination as inattention to real life. Quark offers to create for him a shapeshifter "playmate", to which Odo retorts, "You're disgusting!" Seeing the station commander's young son, Jake Sisko, approaching a holosuite, Odo warns Quark he had better not have created any playmates for him. Quark explains that Jake's program includes famous baseball players from Earth. Dr. Julian Bashir and Lt. Jadzia Dax eat lunch. Julian wants a romantic relationship, but Jadzia politely refuses, pointing out he has also eyed other women. Dax returns to Ops, from where she observes elevated emissions in the nearby Denorius Belt. She and Commander Sisko hypothesize this to be due to the high amount of traffic at Deep Space Nine. Chief O'Brien reads to his daughter Molly the story Rumpelstiltskin and tucks her into bed. Shortly, she comes out of her room and claims Rumpelstiltskin is inside. O'Brien and his wife Keiko patiently return with her and find that Rumpelstiltskin is indeed in her room. Elsewhere, a duplicate of Jadzia attempts to seduce Bashir in his quarters, and Buck Bokai, a 21st century baseball player who in 2026 broke Joe DiMaggio's hitting streak, has followed Jake from the holosuite. The characters disappear when rejected or ignored. Unprecedented events, such as snow on the Promenade, occur across the station, apparently instigated by people's imaginations. Quark finds himself escorted by beautiful, adoring women, and hopes the situation will last forever, until he notices his customers are winning at Dabo. He desperately wishes them to lose, but to no effect: as Odo points out, Quark is outnumbered. Odo returns to his office, and discovers he has wished Quark into a holding cell. The wishing outbreak continues until the emissions detected earlier form into a void near the station. It grows exponentially until Sisko realizes it is part of the wish effect, and will continue growing so long as people believe it exists. He instructs his crew that it does not exist, and to stand down from alert status. The crisis is averted. Later, "Buck Bokai" appears in Sisko's office, where he explains that he is part of an extended mission of exploration that followed a ship through the Wormhole. His people wanted to see what imagination is really about, in order to learn more about humanoids. The aliens did nothing themselves: they only observed the effects of humanoid imagination. Before leaving, he suggests they may one day return. 

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The film begins as an autobiographical look at Shore's early professional successes on MTV and as the star of a series of '90s comedies. Shore's film career leads to his taking a starring role in a vehicle on the Fox Network, in which he plays the slacker son of a millionaire. The pilot of the series turns out to be a commercial and critical failure, and Shore becomes a pariah virtually overnight, with his friends distancing themselves from him for fear that it will tarnish their own careers. Shore is ultimately reduced to living in his mother's attic and watching BackDoor Sluts 9 starring his ex-girlfriend, who will no longer see him. He spends his very last $84 on a hooker—who does almost nothing for him and his life simply gets worse and worse. One night, Shore is visited by the ghost of his mentor, comic Sam Kinison, who encourages Shore to fake his own death as a means of revitalizing popularity in Pauly Shore films and merchandise. Shore decides to go through with the plan, which initially works: Once word of his "death" breaks, celebrities eager for the residual publicity begin appearing on television in large numbers to declare Shore a comic genius and lament his early death. Shore, eager to bask in the publicity, begins appearing in public wearing a disguise; he is quickly outed, arrested, and sent to prison. In prison, Shore is attacked by one of his former fans, "Bucky from Kentucky," a redneck whose world view was shattered when he learned that Shore had willingly put his own fans through the ordeal of thinking he was dead. Shore survives the attack, which causes him to realize that even though he was no longer as famous as he once was, he still had fans who loved him. Shore and Bucky have a heart-to-heart about the nature of celebrity, and Shore decides to start his career over. After getting out of prison, Shore sets about making Pauly Shore Is Dead to chronicle his own rise and fall, using information he has gathered from years in Hollywood to blackmail various B-list celebrities into appearing in cameos; he reserves the information he has on A-list celebrities for the planned sequel. 

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Duane Bradley arrives in New York City with a locked wicker basket. After he gets a room at a cheap hotel, the contents of the basket are finally revealed: in it lives his deformed conjoined twin brother, Belial. Although conjoined at birth, the twins were surgically separated at an early age against their will, and Belial deeply resents being cut off from his normal-looking brother. As the twins seek revenge against the doctors responsible for their separation, Duane befriends a nurse, Sharon. Jealous, Belial attacks and kills her when he becomes frustrated with his inability to rape her. Enraged at his brother for his actions, Duane attempts to kill Belial, which results in the two brothers falling from a hotel window. 

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At International House, a large hotel in metropolitan Wuhu, China Chinese inventor Dr. Wong (Edmund Breese) is soliciting bids for the rights to his "radioscope", a kind of television. Unlike real television, his contraption does not need a camera; it can look in on events anywhere in the world as if it were a ground-penetrating electronic telescope, complete with audio. Prof. Henry R. Quail (W. C. Fields) is one of many people from around the world converging on the hotel, though he is one of the few not hoping to buy (or steal) Dr. Wong's invention, as he was intending to land in Kansas City in his autogyro but flew off course. Also converging on the hotel are four-times-divorced American celebrity Peggy Hopkins Joyce (playing herself) avoiding one of her ex-husbands, violently jealous Russian General Petronovich (Bela Lugosi); Tommy (Stuart Erwin), the representative of an American electric company, hoping to buy Wong's invention and finally wed his sweetheart Carol (Sari Maritza); resident physician Dr. Burns (George Burns) and his goofy aide Nurse Allen (Gracie Allen) dealing with a quarantine on the hotel; and the exasperation of the hotel's fussy and frustrated manager (Franklin Pangborn). Dr. Wong is particularly eager to look in on a six-day indoor bicycle race in New York, but instead somehow brings in performances by popular crooner Rudy Vallée, bandleader-vocalist Cab Calloway, and precocious torch singer Baby Rose Marie, and comedians Stoopnagle and Budd. A floor show (featuring Sterling Holloway and Lona Andre) is also performed in the hotel's rooftop garden restaurant. Ultimately, Tommy wins both the rights to the radioscope and his sweetheart, and Peggy Hopkins Joyce, having learned that Prof. Quail is a millionaire, quickly attaches herself to her next sugar daddy. Prof. Quail and his new companion are chased as he drives his little American Austin automobile through several public areas of the hotel and down several flights of a fire escape before driving it back into the hold of his autogyro and taking off.Green, Stanley (1999) Hollywood Musicals Year by Year (2nd ed.), pub. Hal Leonard Corporation page 22 

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The film begins with prison inmate Luther speaking directly to the camera to an unseen individual, telling the story of Dizzy Gillespie Harrison, an 18-year- old nerdy high school senior in Austin, Texas. Dizzy is friends with Nora, Kirk, and Glen, who together started a funk rock band called "Suburban Funk" and are addicted to video games. They attend Rocky Creek High School, where Dizzy is picked on by everyone, especially star football player Barclay. After Tina Osgood touches his arm, causing him to have an erection and embarrassing him as the jocks belittle him, his briefs were yanked from underneath his pants and placed around his head. The school librarian "breaks" his penis after Dizzy refuses to "hand" over the "weapon" to her. Dizzy is misdiagnosed with Tourette's syndrome; he is then placed on medication by the school counselor who advises his father to spend every moment possible with him. While at the mall's food court, the heavily-medicated Dizzy makes a fool of himself at a church revival and gets arrested. In jail, Dizzy meets Luther, who turns out to be a sympathetic ex-victim who makes it his goal to teach him how to be cool. In an attempt to wipe the slate clean, Dizzy gets himself expelled from his old high school, then undergoes a makeover with the help of the prison inmates and guards. Changing his name to "Gil Harris", he enrolls at East Highland High and makes an impression by being dropped off in a prison van in restraints and beating up the school bully, Connor. The action has the intended effect, and head cheerleader Danielle welcomes the newcomer to school. Her friend Courtney invites Dizzy to a party and through a mishap, Dizzy gives Courtney the impression that he has blown her off. Using a photo given to him by the prison inmates and help from his old friends, Dizzy manages to escape the party with his reputation intact. Upon returning home, however, he finds his father has agreed to sell his house and quit work to supervise him, which results in the pair living in a trailer. Danielle asks Dizzy to encourage the school to go to see the football team play, Dizzy, referencing General Patton and Braveheart, gives an impassioned speech, inspiring the team to win their first game in years. He is soon enlisted by the coach and principal to plan the school's homecoming dance, and becomes imbued with school spirit, shedding his bad boy image. Danielle breaks up with Connor and starts a relationship with Dizzy. However, Dizzy and Gil are fast becoming too big for one body. When Nora berates Dizzy for becoming the same person he once hated, he uses his newfound popularity to confront Connor. Dizzy and Danielle spur the students to reunite, and the lines dividing the different cliques are broken. With a new philosophy, the school football team wins more games and bullying becomes a thing of the past. Reaching the state championship, where they play Rocky Creek, Dizzy's antics on the sideline cost Rocky Creek the game. After Rocky Creek's lost to East Highland, Barclay slowly starts realizing who Gil really is. East Highland High celebrates their victory. At school the next day, while East Highland still celebrates, Barclay confronts and attempts to fight Dizzy, but before he can do anything he is attacked by the entire student body. After the attack, Connor helps up Barclay from the ground, telling him he wants to know what he knows about Dizzy. The homecoming dance, which Dizzy's funk band is supposed to play, is crashed by the students of Rocky Creek. Barclay and Connor, who have joined forces to set a trap for Dizzy, play an embarrassing video of the librarian incident. However, Luther and the other inmates arrive to save Dizzy, tying up the two bullies. Nora admits longstanding feelings for Glen, and Danielle reveals to Dizzy that she was also a nerd growing up. She forgives him for hiding who he was and they kiss. Luther ends the film, and the man he is talking to is revealed to be David Hasselhoff. In a mid-credits scene, Dizzy and Danielle mount a horse and ride off into the sunset together. 

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Road to Sunday revolves around Blake Doogan, who inherits a pro football team after his father is killed in a suspicious explosion while in Jamaica. Later, Blake learns that his father borrowed large sums of money from a Jamaican kingpin to purchase the professional football team the Los Angeles Show, and Doogan's father's debt is now his debt. 

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The Saga of Darren Shan follows the story of Darren Shan, a normal human boy who is coerced by the vampire Larten Crepsley into becoming his assistant and a half-vampire. * In the first trilogy, known as Vampire Blood or The Vampire's Assistant, Darren learns about and comes to accept his vampirism. ** In the first book, Cirque du Freak (also known as Cirque du Freak: A Living Nightmare), Mr. Crepsley makes Darren a half-vampire in return for saving the life of one of Darren's best friends, Steve Leonard. ** In the second book, The Vampire's Assistant, Crepsley notes that Darren is quite lonely and brings him back to the freak show, where he befriends a snake-boy, Evra Von, and a human, Sam Grest. ** In the third book, Tunnels of Blood, Crepsley brings Darren Shan and Evra Von to his hometown, where one of the vampires' enemies, a Vampaneze named Murlough, is murdering innocent people. * In the second trilogy, known as Vampire Rites, Darren learns about the vampire clan and seeks their acceptance. ** In the fourth book, Vampire Mountain, Mr. Crepsley and Darren make their ascent up Vampire Mountain and learn about the rites of the vampires. ** In the fifth book, Trials of Death, Darren faces the Trials of Initiation, nicknamed Trials of Death, to gain the recognition of other vampires as one of the youngest vampires to be recruited in decades. ** In the sixth book, The Vampire Prince, Darren finds out about a traitor among them and tries to stop plans to destroy the vampire clan. He himself becomes a Vampire Prince, in this book. * In the third trilogy, known as Vampire War, Darren learns he may have a larger role to play in the fate of the vampires (and of the world) than he had ever thought. ** In the seventh book, Hunters of the Dusk, the hunt for the Lord of the Vampaneze, who is destined to destroy the vampire clan, begins. ** In the eighth book, Allies of the Night, Darren meets some of his past friends who now fit into his quest. ** In the ninth book, Killers of the Dawn, Darren faces the Lord of the Vampaneze for the second time. * In the fourth trilogy, known as Vampire Destiny, Darren is forced to make some difficult decisions, finally taking his destiny into his own hands and dealing with the consequences. ** In the tenth book, The Lake of Souls, Darren travels to an unfamiliar land to find out who his best friend, Harkat Mulds, used to be; as a "Little Person", Harkat's mind sans memories was placed into a new body after his death. ** In the eleventh book, Lord of the Shadows, Darren finds out more about the Lord of the Shadows and gets closer to his last confrontation with the Lord of the Vampaneze. **In the twelfth book, Sons of Destiny, Darren faces the Lord of the Vampaneze for a final fight, and changes his destiny forever. 

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The story is about Himeko Nonohara (野々原姫子 Nonohara Himeko), also known as Hime-chan (姫ちゃん, using the Chinese character for "princess"), an aloof, childlike, yet boasty thirteen-year-old girl who frets over the fact that she is the biggest tomboy in the school. Himeko would like nothing more than to be a proper, feminine young lady, like her older sister Aiko, so that she could approach her secret crush, Hasekura. One night, Himeko is unexpectedly approached by a girl, who is a near-mirror image of herself, floating outside of her bedroom window. She discovers that the girl is Princess Erika of the Magical Kingdom. Erika explains that people in the Magical Kingdom have an exact counterpart in the Human World and that, in order to prove herself worthy as a princess, she must give Himeko a magical item that she has created. Himeko is allowed the use of this item, a red hair ribbon, for one year to determine whether it is useful, and consequently, if Erika will inherit the crown. The ribbon allows Himeko to transform into anyone in the Human World for one hour. If Himeko is unable to recite the magic incantation in reverse before the hour is up, she will be trapped in that person’s form for the rest of her life. She is unable to reveal the secret of the ribbon and the existence of the Magical Kingdom to anyone. If she does, her memory will be erased as punishment. Assisting her with this is her stuffed lion, Pokota, whom the ribbon brought to life. Erika will watch her in the Magic Kingdom through her crystal ball for one year, at which point the ribbon will be returned. 

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Shining Soul II has little connection to the storyline of the rest of the series aside from a reference to the events of Shining Soul in the introduction. However, an alternate universe version of Boken from Shining Force appears as a major NPC, traditional Shining mascot Yogurt is hidden in one of the stages, and a number of dungeons from the original Shining Soul appear as short hidden dungeons. Centuries after the defeat of Dark Dragon in Shining Soul, light had become too strong, opening the way to a resurgence of darkness. A crystal in the possession of King Marcel and Queen Yvonne of Klantol, which throughout the story reflects the current balance of light and darkness, turns from shining to cloudy. An alchemist named Gillespie, a member of a dark order, the Chaos Knights, worms his way into the friendship of King Marcel's most trusted knight, Deatharte. Gillespie then disappears, leaving something called "the forbidden fruit" with Deatharte. Driven by curiosity, Deatharte eventually eats the fruit and is corrupted by darkness. Later, a tournament at the Klantol Colosseum is interrupted by news that Princess Camille has been abducted. King Marcel orders Deatharte to search for her. Deatharte pretends to obey, but instead goes to join the Chaos Knights. Since Marcel is also concerned about an army of goblins mustering near the castle, he sends a promising young participant in the tournament (the player character) to investigate. Penetrating the goblin fort, the young hero not only confirms that the goblins were planning an attack on the castle, but learns that they abducted Camille and delivered her to the evil witch Wizari, who plans to sacrifice her to increase her power. The hero defeats the goblins and recovers the key to Camille's prison. Since Deatharte has naturally still not returned, Marcel relies upon the young hero to journey to Wizari's palace and save Camille. He succeeds in doing this and slaying Wizari. The celebration is short-lived, as normally peaceful beings are driven mad by darkness. The hero's investigations of these incidents takes him to the mainland of Klantol, where he uncovers a plot by the Chaos Knights to conquer the world. Meanwhile, Princess Camille sneaks away to find Gillespie and manages to learn the password to the Chaos Knights' hidden stronghold. She is later trapped in Koldazhek Cave, but is rescued by the hero and tells him the password. Infiltrating the Chaos Knights' stronghold, the hero slays both Gillespie and Deatharte, who had become leader of the Chaos Knights. The defeat of the Chaos Knights, however, causes a violent shift in balance from darkness to light, awakening a destructive power called Chaos, which even the forces of darkness fear. Marcel, Yvonne, Camille, and the court wizard are spirited away by Chaos. A former knight guides the hero to a passage to Chaos's realm. The hero goes there and defeats Chaos, rescuing the four prisoners and restoring balance to the world. 

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Lily Powers (Barbara Stanwyck) works for her father Nick (Robert Barrat) in a speakeasy in Erie, Pennsylvania during Prohibition. Since the age of 14, her father has had her sleep with many of his customers. The only man she trusts is Cragg (Alphonse Ethier ), a cobbler who admires Friedrich Nietzsche and advises her to aspire to greater things. Lily's father is killed when his still explodes. Cragg tells Lily to move to a big city and use her power over men. She and her African-American co-worker and best friend Chico (Theresa Harris) hop a freight train to New York City, but are discovered by a railroad worker who threatens to have them thrown in jail. As she unbuttons her blouse she says "Wait ... can't we talk this over?" It is strongly implied that she has sex with him to change his mind. In New York, Lily goes inside the Gotham Trust building. She seduces the personnel worker to land a job. Her subsequent rise through the building symbolizes her progress in sleeping her way to the top. In the filing department, Lily begins an affair with Jimmy McCoy Jr. (John Wayne), who recommends her for promotion to his boss, Brody (Douglass Dumbrille). She seduces Brody and is transferred to the mortgage department. Brody and Lily are caught in flagrante delicto by a rising young executive, Ned Stevens (Donald Cook). Brody is fired, but Lily claims Brody forced himself on her. Ned believes her and gives her a position in his accounting department. Although Ned is engaged to Ann Carter (Margaret Lindsay), the daughter of First Vice President J. P. Carter (Henry Kolker), Lily quickly seduces him. When Ann calls to say she will be visiting, Lily arranges to have Ann see her embracing Ned. Ann runs crying to her father, who tells Ned to fire Lily. He refuses, so J. P. calls Lily to his office to fire her himself. Lily claims she had no idea Ned was engaged and that he was her first boyfriend. She seduces J. P., and he installs her in a lavish apartment, with Chico as her maid. Ned tracks her down on Christmas Day, but she spurns him. He later returns to her apartment to ask her to marry him, but finds J. P. there. He shoots and kills J. P., then himself. Courtland Trenholm (George Brent), the grandson of Gotham Trust's founder and a notorious playboy, is elected bank president to handle the resulting scandal. The board of directors, learning that Lily has agreed to sell her diary to the press for $10,000, summons her to a meeting. She tells them she is a victim of circumstance who merely wants to make an honest living. The board offers her $15,000 to withhold her diary, but Courtland, seeing through her and using her claim that she simply wants to restart her life, instead offers her a position at the bank's Paris office. She reluctantly accepts. She also changes her name. When Courtland travels to Paris on business, he is surprised and impressed to find Lily not only still working there, but promoted to head of the travel bureau. He soon falls under her spell and marries her. Unlike her previous conquests, Courtland knows what she is, but admires her spirit nonetheless. While on their honeymoon, he is called back to New York. The bank has failed due to mismanagement, which the board unfairly pins on Courtland. He is indicted, and tells Lily he must raise a million dollars to finance his defense. He asks her to cash in the bonds, stocks and other valuables he gave her, but she refuses and books passage back to Paris. While waiting for the ship to leave, she changes her mind and rushes back to their apartment. When she arrives, she discovers Courtland has shot himself. She tearfully professes her love for him. On the way to the hospital, the ambulance attendant assures her that he has a good chance. Lily accidentally drops her jewelry case, spilling money and jewels on the floor. When the attendant points this out, she tearfully tells him they do not matter anymore. Courtland opens his eyes, sees Lily, and smiles at her. 

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So Dark the Night is the story of a detective, Henri Cassin (Steven Geray) from Paris, who, while on a long overdue vacation, falls in love with innkeeper Pierre Michaud's daughter Nanette (Micheline Cheirel). She is a country girl with a jealous boyfriend. Nonetheless, the detective becomes engaged to her. Then, the night of her engagement party, the girl vanishes and later turns up dead. Cassin believes that the obvious suspect is Leon (Paul Marion), the old boyfriend, but soon he is also found killed. Soon after Mama (Ann Codee) receives a warning that she will be the next to die, she is found strangled. Pierre, fearing for his safety, decides to sell the inn. Henri returns to Paris and, because of his investigative skill, he is able to come up with a sketch of the killer by expanding and elaborating on information provided by a footprint found beside Leon's body. To Henri's astonishment, the sketch bears the exact likeness of himself, and when he fits his shoe into the footprint, he realizes that he is undoubtedly the killer. After making a full confession to the police commissioner, Henri is evaluated by a psychiatrist, who determines that he is schizophrenic. Though placed under watch of a guard, Henri escapes back to St. Margot, where he tries to strangle Pierre. However, the police commissioner, who has followed Henri to the village, catches the detective in the act and shoots him.http://www.afi.com/members/catalog/DetailView.aspx?s=&Movie;=24969 

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When Spike returns from his mission with Andrew, he is enraged to find that the Scooby Gang have lost faith in Buffy's leadership, during his absence, and have evicted her from her home. He denounces them all as traitors, then storms out in disgust to find Buffy after exchanging a few blows with Faith. Spike tracks down and comforts a depressed Buffy, while Faith accepts her role as the newly elected leader of the Potentials. The Scoobies capture a Bringer and magically interrogate him. Eyeless and tongueless, he speaks through Andrew, who tells them that Bringers are busy forging weapons for the coming apocalypse and do not see Buffy's army as a threat. Later, after saying goodnight to Giles, Faith is approached by The First (in the form of Richard Wilkins), who leads her to believe that Buffy only sees her as a killer and will take the first chance she gets to kill her. That evening, four couples engage in intimacy. Buffy and Spike take refuge in an abandoned house, and Buffy confesses her self-doubt and inability to let anyone become close to her. Spike tries to rally her spirits by describing that he's seen all of her, the good and the bad, but he still stands by her. Buffy asks Spike to spend the night. Initially misunderstanding her meaning, he moves toward a large chair, but Buffy requests he spend the night holding her. Faith and Wood engage in a one-night stand. In the first lesbian sex scene ever on American network TV, Willow and Kennedy have sex for the first time,“Buffy” to Show First Lesbian Sex Scene on Broadcast TV and Xander and Anya rekindle their sexual relationship. The next morning, Faith gives out her orders. She sends Dawn, Xander, Willow and Anya to go and find Buffy, while she and the Potentials launch a preemptive strike on the First's armory, which turns out to be a trap. Buffy regains her will to fight and brawls with Caleb, evading nearly all of his offensive moves; in the end, she dives into a floor panel in the winery and finds a powerful battle axe that appears to have been hidden there. The episode ends with Kennedy finding a box, which Faith opens and reveals that it's a bomb ready to detonate with only 8 seconds left. Faith yells for everyone to get down and the screen goes black. 

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;Prologue For 25 years Nils has worked with an iron rod to move stones from the fields of his farm Korpamoen in Ljuder's parish, Småland, Sweden. One day he slips and a big rock rolls onto him, breaking both his hip and femur. As a cripple he cannot work and is forced to sell the farm. His oldest son, Karl Oskar, barely of age, convinces Nils to sell the farm to him, and he buys it for 1700 riksdaler. ;Act I Karl Oskar visits his girlfriend Kristina, who waits for him and pictures him making his way through the familiar surroundings ("Duvemåla Pasture"). Karl Oskar tells her that he has bought his father's farm, and can now marry her ("My Lust For You"). They marry and begin a life together, but times are hard because of bad harvests (King of Stone's Kingdom). Kristina worries that they cannot support their growing family, and suggests to her husband that they take steps to prevent another pregnancy. Karl Oskar says that it would be a betrayal of his love for her. Karl Oskar's younger brother, Robert, is on his way to begin work as a farm hand on a nearby farm. He stops by a stream and wishes he was as free as the water ("Out Towards a Sea"). Kristina is pregnant again, and she and Karl Oskar worry that they won't be able to feed their children during winter, because of a drought and bad harvest. An angry Karl Oskar tells God that since he took their hay last year, he might as well take the rest. Shortly thereafter lightning strikes the barn, setting it on fire. Kristina tells her husband that he got what he wished for ("Bad Harvest"). Young Arvid, who works as a farmhand beside Robert at the farm of Nybacken, is unjustly punished by his mistress; in desperation, he sets out to kill her with an axe, but Robert stops him. The two boys dream of a better world, a world across the ocean, called North America, which Robert has read about. Kristina loves her home, and is happy to be married to Karl Oskar and have their three children (Blåklintstäcket/Kristina's Apple Tree). One day Robert returns home, having been beaten by his master. He refuses to go back, and asks for his share of the inheritance so he can leave Sweden and travel to North America. Karl Oskar confesses that he has been considering the same thing; he and Robert try to convince Kristina that she will love America, but she is too afraid ("No"). Kristina asks her beloved Uncle, Danjel, to help her change her husband's mind. In a dream, Danjel has a vision where he is called to fulfill his uncle's work of restoring God's Kingdom on earth and to lead the people away from the false teachings. One night he gathers a group of outcasts to celebrate communion ("Little Group"); the gathering is disrupted by the Provost and the local authorities, who scatter the group and intend to bring them all to justice for breaking the law. One of the persons in the room, Ulrika of Västergöhl, a former prostitute who is now born again through Christ and lives in Danjel's house, is furious over the hypocrisy of their persecutors, one of whom used to be her customer. Ulrika vows that her illegitimate daughter Elin will never have to suffer because her mother was a whore ("Never"). Kristina, and Karl Oskar's parents, try to convince him to stay, pointing out the advantages of home ("Golden Wheat Fields"). When Kristina makes christening porridge for the new baby, their starving oldest daughter (Anna) eats it, but the grain swells in her stomach, and she dies ("Come To Me Everyone"). Realising that the poverty in Sweden is just as dangerous as anything overseas, Kristina agrees to move. They visit the Provost and write down their reasons for emigrating in the church book. The provost warns them of all the horrors waiting in America, saying that God will wipe America off the face of the earth within fifty years. The emigrants begin their journey. Karl Oskar, Kristina, their children and Robert have gained some companions; Danjel and his family are moving to escape religious persecution, along with Ulrika and her daughter, and so is Arvid, who has also been living with Danjel. A group of 16 people leaves Ljuder, never to return ("We Open Up the Gateways.") The ship turns out to be smaller than they had thought it would be. Karl Oskar must bunk with the bachelors. For the first time in their marriage, Kristina and Karl Oskar are separated ("Farmers At Sea"). One day Kristina discovers lice on her body. She is horrified, since she has never had them before in her life, and blames Ulrika, who has none ("Lice"). An old woman on the ship, Fina-Kajsa, is traveling to find her son in America, carrying a big grindstone because she has heard grindstones are very expensive in America. Fina-Kajsa tells the story of how lice came to be. One night in the middle of a storm Karl Oskar is woken by his oldest son, Johan, who tells him that his mother is bleeding. Kristina, pregnant with her fifth child, has fallen ill with scurvy. The captain does what he can to help her, and Karl Oskar sits by her side, waking through the longest night of his life ("Stay"). When morning finally comes Kristina is alive, but Danjel's wife, who has been ill for a long time without telling her husband, has died ("Burial at Sea"). Fina-Kajsa has a letter from her son, saying that he has plowed 100 acres of fields with good soil. Karl Oskar asks where this is, and Fina-Kajsa reads: "Taylors Falls, Minnesota." Easy to remember, Karl Oskar points out ("Minne" meaning "memory" in Swedish). On Midsummer's Eve land is finally spotted, after two and a half months on the ocean. The sight of all the New Yorkers out for a Sunday walk overwhelms the immigrants, and so does the foreign language ("A Sunday in Battery Park"). An apple given by one friendly lady to the children reminds Kristina of home. Johan asks if they can go home now. Kristina remembers her motherland, where they now are celebrating midsummer ("Home"). The group travels by train and steamboat, amazed at how wide America is ("Travel Through America"). At a land grab Karl Oskar's and Kristina's daughter Lill-Märta disappears. At the last moment, when the paddle steamer already started moving, Ulrika finds Märta and returns the girl to her parents. One night the immigrants are left on a pier in Stillwater. It is dark and rainy, and no one understands what they say; they are completely abandoned, until Baptist pastor Henry O Jackson shows up and offers the immigrants shelter, warmth and food. As Danjel prays, thanking the Lord for the food, they find out that they have a word in common: "Amen." Robert tells his friend Arvid of his plans to go on the California trail and dig for gold and asks him to come along. Karl Oskar is highly skeptical, but his brother is firmly set on leaving ("The Dream of Gold"). The women are amazed by how Pastor Jackson handles household chores, and begin to understand that women are more equal in this country. The immigrants struggle to communicate with Reverend Jackson ("To Think That Men Like Him Can Exist"). Karl Oskar and Kristina continue to Lake Ki-Chi-Saga, where they intend to build their new home. Here, with help from Ulrika, Kristina gives birth to a healthy son. Karl Oskar reads the Christmas Gospel for his little family, and Kristina tells her new-born child about the land where she was born, and of her astrakan apple tree which is still carrying fruit ("My Astrakan"). ;Act II A few years have passed by. The settlers gather and celebrate their choice to move to this New World ("The Superiors"). But Kristina lies awake at night, tormented by her longing for Sweden, and begs God to let her return ("Bright Evenings in Springtime"). Karl Oskar tells her that if God tries to move her back he will reach out his hand and keep her by his side. He shows her the boots that belonged to their daughter Anna, and reminds her why they left Sweden. He plans to write to her father and ask for some seeds from her astrakan tree, in the hope that a new tree planted at their new settlement will help her feel at home. When Christmas comes Karl Oskar has bought Kristina a new stove, called the Queen of the Prairie. Their friends gather at New Duvemåla to celebrate Christmas, and they all marvel at the new stove ("The Queen of the Prairie"). The fun gathering is disrupted when Karl Oskar gets into a fight with Nöjd, a fur hunter, who tells Karl Oskar that he does not own the land he farms, which is stolen from the Indians. Karl Oskar describes his plight back home in Sweden, and tells Nöjd how hard he has worked to turn the wild grass on his property into a home and a farm ("Wild Grass"). One evening in June, a strange man is spotted down at the lake shore. Robert has come back from the gold fields. Arvid is not with him, but Robert has a lot of money, which Karl Oskar deposits at the bank. Kristina finds Arvid's watch and demands to know where Arvid is. Robert tells her that he eventually reconciled to his fate and then tells her the story of how they went searching for gold, but ended up lost in the desert. Arvid drank poisoned water and died ("Robert's Story"). The money Robert gives to Karl Oskar turns out to be counterfeit. Karl Oskar becomes furious ("Wild Cat Money"), believing that his brother knew this. Robert walks out to the woods where he finds a lonely stream, the symbol of the freedom he never found. He has caught yellow fever, and by the stream he dies ("Out Towards a Sea (Reprise)"). Karl Oskar and Kristina plant seeds in their new farmlands, and a great wheat field is grown ("The Field"), along with Kristina's apple tree, planted from seeds from home. Back in Sweden Ulrika was a whore and no respectable man would look at her twice. Now she tells Kristina she has had several suitors ("Won't You Marry Me?") and has decided to marry Pastor Jackson, with whom she has been in love since they met; she will convert to Baptism. Kristina and Ulrika cherish their friendship ("A Miracle of the Lord"). Kristina comes to watch her friend being baptised by Pastor Jackson ("Down to the Sacred Wave"). Kristina suffers a miscarriage and Ulrika takes her to the doctor, then brings Karl Oskar the bad news that, after her miscarriage, Kristina's body cannot take much more. Another childbirth would mean her death ("Miscarriage"). A devastated Kristina thinks of all the bad things that have happened to her, having to leave her home, losing her child and now her husband's love. She desperately prays to God, not knowing what she will do if he isn't real ("You Have To Be There"). As time passes, Kristina begins to feel better. One day the settlers gather for a big harvest feast ("Harvest Feast"), and she tells Uncle Danjel of her wish to live long enough to see her children grow up. She also tells him about her apple tree, which finally is blooming and will give fruits to the autumn. After the feast Kristina tries to convince Karl Oskar that it is God's meaning that husband and wife should be together, and that if God wants her to live she will live, but if He wants her to die He will take her regardless. Karl Oskar argues, until she repeats the words he said to her so many years ago ("Here You Have Me Again"). During the civil war, the state of Minnesota gets a civil war of its own, an Indian uprising. Chaos, murder and violence begin to spread ("Red Iron/The Sioux uprising") at the same time as Kristina finds out that she is once again carrying a child. She tells Karl Oskar, who is worried. She turns to God and asks for help to comfort him, since she is so weak and tired herself ("Help Me Comfort"). The settlers have to leave their homes as the uprising spreads ("Where Do We Belong?"). Karl Oskar sends the children away with Danjel, but cannot leave himself because Kristina has miscarried again, and lies dying in her bed. Karl Oskar is the only settler remaining in St. Croix Valley, but the apples on the Astrakan tree have finally matured. Karl Oskar gives Kristina the first of the ripe apples, and she smells it. She tells Karl Oskar not to grieve, saying she will be waiting for him at Duvemåla Pasture, as she used to ("I'll Be Waiting There"). Kristina then dies peacefully in her husband's arms. 

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The movie follows two female American officers (played by Maria Lease and Kathy Williams) who volunteer to enter a Nazi camp undercover to gain information from, and possibly rescue, an inmate. The camp's female inmates serve as prostitutes for German officers and are subjected to humiliating treatment, torture, and rape. When the two female agents learn that their target is being held in solitary detention, one of them arranges to be punished so that she can make contact. This leads to Lt. Harman (Lease) being stripped and strung up by her wrists. The target uses her body to free Harman and they attempt their escape. The escape plan ends in a climactic battle. The movie shows female full frontal nudity for a majority of the film. 

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The film is set in a South American jungle prison during a revolution. Initially, the camp commander and the prison physician, Dr. Costa, wait for a few guards on a truck. On board are six young women. Three of them were arrested on suspicion of revolutionary activities, the other three are made available to the guards to be raped. The three detainees, Karine, Barbara, and Aida, are found shortly thereafter, naked and chained in a standing position, in the notorious Cellblock 9. Gradually, they are presented to the "interrogation", which is supported by the doctor through various tortures. Barbara and Aida resist the torture and remain silent, Karine, however, breaks down under the torture, and some revolutionaries denounced the (unnamed) city. In the meantime, the young indigenous student Marie also ends up in the cellblock. Allegedly, propaganda material was found on her by the insurgents. Their torture was to spend three days without food and water in a single cell. She was then taken to dinner with the commander of the doctor, where they have oral sex in order to then get a little sip of salty Champagne. After the four women in Cellblock 9 again are forging among themselves, they devise a plan to contact their contacts in the capital. The quartet manages to distract the guard in order to knock him out and flee with his rifle. Shortly after leaving the cellblock, Aida is killed in a gunfight with another guard who is also killed. The other three flee into the jungle, where Barbara has been shot and they progress slowly. They make it to an old temple, where they feel safe and remove the bullet from Barbara's shoulder. Karine and Marie go into the jungle to look for food, but the guards find their trail and meet them at the temple. As Barbara is killed, the other two, alerted by her screams, run back to the temple and are suddenly confronted by the camp commander and the doctor (surrounded by prison guards). In a last desperate action Karine attempts to steal the commander's pistol. When she fails to pull the trigger, the commander gives the order to fire and the last two prisoners are struck down on the spot. With the desecration of the corpses, the film ends. 

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Ayu Tateishi is a well-adjusted middle-schooler in her second year, until the fateful day when she finds a dejected looking Nina Sakura outside of the school. Nina explains that she lost something very dear to her earlier that day. And that she has fallen in love with her. Ayu offers to help Nina, the annoying girl look for her lost item, but Nina seems reluctant to say what the item is that she lost, and runs off. On her way home Ayu finds what seems to be a mini-computer underneath the bench she knew Nina to be at earlier that day. After returning the item to Nina, Nina struggles to decide whether to let Ayu in on the 'big secret' she keeps. In order to see if Ayu is trustworthy, she starts to follow Ayu around and eventually decides she can trust Ayu. Nina reveals that she is actually from the Magic Kingdom and is a magic girl. Ayu, however, doesn't believe Nina and thinks she is a bit crazy at first. Ayu herself had always shunned the ideas of magic and fairy tales, even admitting she had never read Harry Potter, so having someone tell her they are a witch truly isn't something she can easily accept. After several mishaps with her magic, Nina proves she is a magic girl, and a failure who came to Earth as her last chance to prove that she can get things right. These first mishaps and the fact that Nina has shared her secret with Ayu, Nina attaches herself to Ayu as a friend and does everything she can to help Ayu with getting the attention of her crush, Tetsushi Kaji. As their adventures continue many friends from the Magic Kingdom come and visit Nina to the chagrin of Ayu. The anime adaptation has a very different plot starting after Ayu and Nina have first met. Instead of coming as a witch failure who is trying to prove herself to be more than she is said to be, Nina has come to Earth to find the five "Holy Stones". She tells Ayu that whoever collects all five will qualify to marry the prince of the Magic Kingdom. Nina's childhood friend Maya is also on Earth from the start, competing with Nina to find the stones. Though Nina does collect them all first, she learns that the prince and Maya are truly in love with one another, so Nina gives up the stones and her dream, allowing Maya and the prince to be with one another, and Nina stays on Earth with her other lovers. Even though she still loves her. 

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The show revolved around Darcy Fields (Sara Paxton), the daughter of an eccentric actress who decides to move away from Malibu to raise her daughter in a more normal environment. Darcy is slow to adjust to her new home in the country. She gets a job at a local veterinary clinic called Creature Comforts. The show is mostly about the humorous situations Darcy gets into while adjusting to her new surroundings. The show's title is a pun on the word "wildlife", which is the main theme of the show. The title refers to Darcy's eccentric life dealing with wildlife. Many episodes also had titles based on puns, such as "Puppy Love" (with puppies), "Swine Flew the Coop" (on swine flu), "Knockin' on Heaven's Doggie Door" (song "Knockin' on Heaven's Door") or "The Trouble with Truffles" (Star Treks "Tribbles"). 

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The setting of the game is a fantasy prehistorical Stone Age-era world that is shared by both neanderthals, woolly mammoth, saber-tooth tigers, dinosaurs, and various assorted wild primeval monsters such as prehistoric mammals, giant insects, human-eating plants, and other exotica; thus, the setting is similar to that of films such as One Million Years B.C., or television shows such as The Flintstones or Dinosaurs. The eponymous Chuck Rock is an overweight, square-jawed caveman characterized by loutish and lewd behaviour perhaps influenced by the lad culture of the 1990s. Chuck has a limited vocabulary (his favourite phrase being "Unga Bunga" and not much else), has a balding head cut into a punk-style mohawk, eats whole dinosaur- steaks raw in one bite, and has a penchant for picking up rocks and throwing them at things, hence his name. Chuck is a guitarist and singer (or shouter) in a rock band along with some other cavemen, his attractive wife Ophelia Rock, and a long-haired dinosaur bass player; and whilst on stage he wears a long wig to hide his balding head. One day, Ophelia Rock is kidnapped by jealous local bully Garry Gritter (a pun on the name of contemporary pop star Gary Glitter) and carried off to Gritter's hang-out in the creepy dinosaur graveyard. Chuck must go to her rescue, searching for her in primeval jungles, swamps, lakes, an ice-capped mountain top, caves, and even the insides of a gigantic dinosaur. 

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Using elements from both the RoboCop and Terminator universes, the comic book series begins with Skynet sending three Terminators back in time to Detroit to protect a troubled RoboCop from a lone human soldier also sent back to destroy him. Discovering that the technology used to build him is partly responsible for the future development of Skynet, RoboCop sets out to take down Skynet in the post-apocalyptic future single- handedly. Part of the story focuses on his mind, the only part left of him, hiding and moving throughout Skynet's systems, fighting back as best he can. RoboCop's human consciousness (Alex Murphy) waits for decades in hiding deep within Skynet's "consciousness", avoiding detection as the slaughter of humanity takes place. He waits for the opportunity when Skynet's attention will be focused on other matters with the war against the humans for him to make a move. A human assault allows Murphy to create a Terminator body that resembles his old form. He makes his escape and is nearly destroyed by human resistance fighters. He identifies himself as an ally and, after gaining their confidence, begins to plot to destroy Skynet with them. 

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Dangerfield plays Jake Puloski, a comedic and friendly warden who runs a privately owned prison for white-collar criminals and less serious offenders. Trouble starts when Puloski's plans for renovating his rundown prison are ruined by his superior, Eli Rockwood (Randy Quaid), a greedy businessman who inherited the prison from his deceased parents, who rejects his budget request. Rockwood also informs Puloski that his contract will not be renewed, which means that Puloski will be forced to retire in two months. At the same time, Rockwood is in the midst of selling his company to the very wealthy Gloria Beaumont (Kirstie Alley). Without the funds for a proper remodeling, Puloski decides to allow a group of prisoners, Mile-Away (Phil LaMarr), Next-Week (Paul Rodriguez), Jerk-Off (Marty Belafsky), and Ears (Joe Nipote), to leave the prison to burgle a sporting goods store owned by Rockwood (on the condition that they are "back by midnight" before the guard Smitty (Tony Cox) makes his rounds). The plan meets many surprises however, complicating Jake's plan, including excitable store clerk Lance (Kevin West) and a sadistic security guard (Gilbert Gottfried) with his vicious guard dog named Princess. As Jake distracts Smitty, the four prisoners break into the store, distract the store's guard dog Princess with the prison's guard dog whom they had fed viagra to earlier that night, and make off with their stolen gym equipment, but on the way back to the prison one of their truck tires goes flat. As Ears and Jerk-Off look for a tire jack in a farm house, Next-Week and Mile-Away try to fast-talk their way past Sheriff Jack Hubbard (Harland Williams), who it turns out is an old school chum of Mile-Away. Jerk-Off finds love with the farmer's sheep, alerting farmer Baxter (Blake Clark), who comes out with a shotgun, sending Jerk-Off and Ears running away with no tire jack. As Sheriff Jack Hubbard and Mile-Away reminisce, Next-Week changes the truck tire with the tire jack Sheriff Hubbard loaned them. After picking up Ears and Jerk-Off from the side of the road, the four head back to the prison. The next morning, the store security guard discovers that all the equipment has been stolen, and his beloved dog Princess was "a slut". Sheriff Hubbard inspects the crime scene, promising Rockwood that he will catch the culprits. The security guard informs them that one of the security cameras was still operational and they may have footage of the culprits; however it has only footage of the two guard dogs. At the prison, the convicts are ecstatic with their new equipment and Jake feels very proud of himself. The burglars tell Jake that they think they should get the other items the prison needs by robbing the other stores owned by Rockwood in the area, justifying it because Rockwood had been fiddling with their budget in the first place. Jake agrees to the plan since he has only two months left of his contract. As Jake distracts Smitty at the strip clubs, Ears, Jerk-Off, Mile-Away, and Next-Week rob Rockwood's other stores of their cash to pay for the renovations to the prison. Rockwood meets with Mrs. Beaumont to discuss their merger, while Mrs. Beaumont's pet monkey makes quick work of destroying Rockwood's office. Jake throws a Valentine's dance at the prison, inviting the wives and girlfriends of the convicts, where Next-Week introduces his girlfriend (Lisa Arturo) and her friend Veronica (Yeardley Smith) to his cousin Carlos (Jsu Garcia). Veronica figures out that the convicts stole money from Rockwood to afford all the changes to the prison and Carlos has to kiss her to keep her quiet. Inside the dance, a riot breaks out due to another inmate stealing Jerk-Off's inflatable date, resulting in a scuffle, and a fistfight between the inmates. At the police station, Sheriff Hubbard discovers that a shoe left by Jerk-Off at the farm belongs to a prisoner uniform at Rockwood's prison. He visits Mile-Away and after a scene of interrogation Sheriff Hubbard leaves. Mile-Away warns Jake and tells him to spread the word that there will be no more burglary jobs. Rockwood, however, has other plans. Along with Sheriff Hubbard, he creates a trap for the burglars in the form of a big weekend sale. The convicts read about it and decide to pull one last job to have some cash for themselves once they re- enter society. But Carlos demands to be a part of the job because he had to kiss Veronica to keep her quiet, leaving Jerk-Off out. At the store, Ears drills into the safe but Next-Week mistakenly leaves his cousin Carlos to roam. Carlos breaks into jewelry cases trying to take them but trips the alarm. Upon opening the safe, they find it is empty, then run outside and are caught by Sheriff Hubbard and the rest of the police department. Mile-Away escapes in the van to warn Jake. Mile-Away admits that they pulled one last job and Jake admits that Rockwood was firing him. Jerk-Off and Mile-Away enter the sheriff's department disguised as guards and manage to free Ears, Carlos, and Next-Week, escaping in the prison van, and entering a high-speed chase with Mile-Away riding with Sheriff Hubbard chasing the other burglars. Jake shows up at Rockwood's house trying to confess to the masterminding the burglaries but Sheriff Hubbard calls Rockwood from the road, hot on the burglars' trail. Rockwood decides to chase down the burglars himself. Rockwood grabs a gun and has Jake ride with him, who are joined by Mrs. Beaumont, who has an odd attraction to criminals and high speed chases. The chase ends at the prison where Ears, Jerk-Off, Next-Week, and Carlos zoom through the gate pretending to be prison laundry returning. Rockwood follows them in and notices the changes to the prison and realizes Jake masterminded the robberies. Rockwood says he will turn Jake in until Mrs. Beaumont comes into the prison and tells Rockwood how much she loves how well he treats the prisoners. Mrs. Beaumont says after seeing how he runs his prisons she definitely wants to merge her company with his and have Jake oversee all the prisons. Jake agrees and tells his gang that they need to stop the robberies permanently. A year later Jake narrates, saying he retired and finally took the fishing trip he and Smitty had always talked about. Carlos and Next-Week were released first and were greeted by their women Veronica and Next-Week's girlfriend. Ears was released and led a decent life until he cheated on a game show using his super hearing and won a million dollars. Jerk-Off was married to his inflatable girlfriend and started a family; they had an inflatable baby boy. Mile-Away became Sheriff Hubbard's deputy and they became a great crime fighting duo. 

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Richard "Dinky" Earnshaw, a 19-year-old high school dropout, explains that he's got a good job in which he gets his own house, car, and virtually anything he asks for -- including CDs that have not been released yet. He also gets a small weekly cash allowance, provided he doesn't look for the people who drop it through his mail slot and that he gets rid of any money left over at the end of the week; he dumps his excess change into the gutter by his house and he puts his bills in the garbage disposal. It is revealed that Dinky has the ability to mentally influence people by drawing complicated designs or pictures, in a way that he does not completely understand. This is illustrated when he recalls that, as a child, when a dog tormented him on his way home from school, he (semi-knowingly) drove it to suicide. At Dinky's previous job at a convenience store, he was forced to endure humiliating treatment by another employee named Skipper, until the day Dinky used his power to make Skipper kill himself. Dinky is discovered by a man named Mr. Sharpton, who claims to work for an organization that searches across the world for people with such talents. Dinky is recruited to kill very specific targets by e-mailing them his designs that he creates on an Apple computer. He is, in return, given a life that seems ideal, complete with a house and other benefits. Mr. Sharpton tells Dinky that the people he is ordered to kill are wicked, horrible criminals, and that the world is better off without them. For a time, Dinky lives his new life in a semi-mindless bliss; however, when he finds an article in the newspaper about one of the individuals whom he has killed (a seemingly innocent old newspaper columnist) he begins to feel guilty for what he has done. After researching more into his other victims, Dinky realizes that the organization has been using him to assassinate political dissidents and alternative thinkers. As the story ends, Dinky plans his escape, but not before sending one final email to Mr. Sharpton, his recruiter, with a nondescript symbol attached. 

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SpongeBob accidentally receives Squidward's Fancy Living Digest magazine in the mail, inspiring him and Patrick Star to become entrepreneurs. Per Patrick's suggestion, the pair become door-to-door chocolate bar salesmen, which results in them purchasing large quantities of chocolate bars from the Barg 'n' Mart. Their first customer is a crazy fish who maniacally and repeatedly screams "CHOCOLATE!", which scares the pair away. Afterwards, SpongeBob and Patrick attempt to sell chocolate to another fish, who cons them into buying chocolate-carrying bags twice in a row. They then try to sell to a woman who wants to buy a chocolate bar, but when SpongeBob is not able to find one because of all of the carrying bags, the customer loses her patience. When SpongeBob finally finds a chocolate bar, he and Patrick are chased away again by the chocolate fanatic. After their disastrous results in their previous attempts, the two take a break at a diner, and decide to "try being nice". However, this is unsuccessful, ending in Patrick buying pictures of a customer as an overweight child, as is their attempt to "focus" (resulting in Patrick staring at a customer until the customer slams the door on Patrick's eyes). Then, they decide that the only way to sell chocolate is to "stretch the truth", which is successful when they convince a very old woman (to the dismay of her elderly daughter Mary) that it "makes you live forever". The lying continues, but after they attempt to help a seriously injured man (who turns out to be the same man who sold SpongeBob and Patrick the carrying bags in disguise) by buying his chocolate, their profit is lost. However, the chocolate fanatic catches up to them, and, in a turn of events, buys all of the chocolate that SpongeBob and Patrick have. They then use the money to rent out a fancy restaurant, allowing access only to themselves and their dates: Mary and her mother. 

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Michael Walsh, a husband and father, falls for a girl named Magenta. The difficulty is that Magenta is his wife's underaged sister. Magenta is persistent in pursuing Michael, though, and this provides the drama in the story. 

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The new series has the elderly and womanising "Young Mr Grace", head of Grace Brothers department store, recently deceased while scuba-diving on holiday in the Caribbean with his personal secretary, Miss Jessica Lovelock. As per the instructions in his will, the remaining workers in each department at Grace Brothers' closing sale find their pensions invested in different things. The members of the Men's and Ladies' Departments, along with Ms Lovelock, inherit the estate that is the locale of the show. Young Mr Grace had invested their pension funds in a multitude of antiquated businesses, the largest of which is a country manor house called Millstone Manor. The will stipulates that they cannot sell the house and split the profits, but can use the property in the manner of their choosing. After a trip to Millstone Manor to view the property, where they also learn their pensions are minuscule, they decide to live in the manor in order to run it as an inn and live off the proceeds. Miss Lovelock, given accommodation in the grooms' quarters and charge of the horses, also lives at the manor much to the distress of Mrs Slocombe and Miss Brahms. Captain Peacock is not so bothered, however. The series begins just after the funeral of Mr Grace, and quickly brings the cast to Millstone Manor. There they find Mr Rumbold having trouble trying to find new staff after telling the previous staff "in no uncertain terms" that if they did not straighten up they could leaveand they left. With time running out, the old Grace Brothers employees are obliged to "stand in" for the staff in order to have their picture taken as the inn staff for a travel brochure. Soon they find that they are running the inn themselves with the help of Mr Moulterd, who manages the manor's farm, and his daughter Mavis, who helps out at the manor. With Mr Humphries forced by circumstance to share a bed with Mavis, he finds that she develops a bit of a crush on him. This series of events leads all of the cast to assume they are having an affair, which flatters Mr Humphries, though he denies any such goings-on. Despite these events, Mr Humphries continues to be rather ambivalent to the idea of a relationship with anyone. A young man from the village vies with Humphries for Mavis' affection, and frequently attempts to intimidate him by threatening him with violence. On her first day in the country, Mrs Slocombe tries to move a gypsy's wagon that blocked the road and ends up charged with wagon theft, narrowly avoiding a charge of indecent exposure since there was "just a flash" as the out-of- control wagon raced past the post office. At her trial, all of her colleagues are called as witnesses, but it is Mr Moulterd who ends up winning the case for her. Mrs Slocombe is grateful, despite her irritation that he brings up their sexual relationship during the War, which she insists never happened. Also notable is the unexpected appearance of the oft alluded to, but never- before-seen Mr Slocombe, from whom Mrs Slocombe seeks to hide her identity. Other events include the staff putting on a traditional harvest festival dance for octogenarian American visitors and putting on a showcase of British arts and culture for a tour group from Mongolia. Episode 1 of Series 2 contains a number of satirical references to the wrongful conviction and hanging of Derek Bentley for the murder of a policeman. The case revolved around the issue of whether Bentley's words "Let him have it, Chris" to his associate Christopher Craig were meant literally ("Let him have the gun") or figuratively ("Open fire!"). The case had been widely publicised and was the subject of a film titled Let Him Have It starring Christopher Eccleston a few years before the show was made. 

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O.C. & Stiggs is the adventure of two Arizona teenagers. In their car, the Gila Monster, they pick up sluts (loose women) and torture their nemesis, Randall Schwab, while procuring liquor from "Wino Bob" (a bum who lives in the oleander bushes behind the 7-Eleven). 

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The story is set in 1895 France and takes place predominantly in Paris. However, it begins on a farm in rural Provence. The lovely cat Mewsette and the accomplished but shy mouser Jaune Tom are in love ("Mewsette"), until the former is frustrated with his plebeian ways (and those of the farm), to the point of calling him a "clumsy country clod". Inspired by the human Jeanette's stories of glamour and sophistication in Paris ("Take My Hand, Paree"), Mewsette runs away by taking a train to the big city ("Roses Red, Violets Blue"), where she encounters the slick con-cat Meowrice (Paul Frees). Taking advantage of the country kitty's naivete, he puts her in the care of the sultry Madame Henretta Reubens-Chatte, who promises to turn Mewsette into a dainty debutante known as "The Belle of all Paris". Unbeknownst to Mewsette, Meowrice is grooming her to be the mail-order bride of a rich American cat in Pittsburgh known as "Mr. Henry Phtt" ("The Money Cat"). Meanwhile, Jaune Tom and his sidekick Robespierre arrive in Paris, searching for Mewsette. Training does not go well. Just as Mewsette is about to give up and return to the farm, Meowrice takes her out to see the cat side of Paris, the Eiffel Tower, the Champs-Élysées and the Mewlon Rouge and then take a buggy ride back home ("The Horse Won't Talk"). Reinvigorated, she returns to her studies. Jaune Tom and Robespierre arrive just at that moment but get waylaid by one of Meowrice's shadowy cat henchmen and barely escape drowning in Paris's famous labyrinthine sewers. By coincidence, Jaune Tom displays his incredible mouse-hunting skills in front of Meowrice (known as "Virtue-Mousety"), who sees a money-making opportunity, gets them drunk ("Bubbles"), and sells them as mousers to a ship bound for Alaska. On the ship, Robespierre consoles a depressed Jaune Tom, telling him that any problem, regardless of size, can be broken up into manageable pieces, by remarking that even the mighty ocean is made up of little drops of water. Jaune Tom has a vision of Mewsette singing about how no problem is unconquerable, and the importance of never giving up ("Little Drops of Rain"). Mewsette finishes her training and is now lovely enough to impress even Meowrice, who commissions a series of paintings of her by such famous artists as Claude Monet, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Georges Seurat, Henri Rousseau, Amedeo Modigliani, Vincent van Gogh, Edgar Degas, Auguste Renoir, Paul Cézanne, Paul Gauguin and Pablo Picasso (an opportunity for the animators to indulge in some artistic parodies), so that he can send them to Mr. Phtt. Meowrice quietly writes a check to pay his "sister", Madame Reubens-Chatte (using disappearing ink, so that the check is worthless), and takes Mewsette to his hideout in Notre Dame. There, he reveals his plan to ship her to America and tries to coerce her to enter a luggage crate, but after seeing a portrait of Mr. Phtt depicting him as fat and old, she manages to escape Meowrice and his sidekicks. In the resulting chase scene, she leads them to a bulldog, who injures Meowrice badly enough to put him out of action for six weeks. Meanwhile, his sycophants (who are nowhere near as intelligent as he is) comb the city without success, searching for Mewsette. Meanwhile, not long after they reach Alaska (a howling wilderness of snow), Jaune Tom and Robespierre strike gold thanks to the former's mouse-hunting skills. Now wealthy, the two cats hurry back to Paris. A disillusioned and homeless Mewsette wanders around the streets of Paris ("Paris is a Lonely Town") and stops atop a bridge over the river where she attempts to leap to her death, but she is captured by Meowrice and his sidekicks. She is taken to the Gare du Nord railway station, en route to a boat to America, and all hope seems lost, when Jaune Tom and Robespierre arrive. They have been aided by Madame Ruebens- Chatte, who is irritated that her own "brother" double-crossed her and tears up the worthless check. In a humorously over-the-top fight scene inside the boxcar of a moving train, the three heroes defeat Meowrice and pack him into the crate intended for Mewsette, doubtless that this will be a nasty surprise for Mr. Phtt. The film concludes with Mewsette, Jaune Tom and Robespierre enjoying the high life in Paris that Mewsette was seeking when she left home ("Mewsette Finale"). 

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Repressed teenager Jennifer Stanton (Hart) is constantly at odds with her exceedingly-strict parents, who intensely dislike Jennifer's friends as well as her taste in clothing. Her father William (Baldwin) is an aggressive control-freak; his attitude has an adverse impact upon Jennifer's relationships, particularly with Brad (Lascher) - the captain of her high school football team. Brad ultimately breaks up with Jennifer, ostensibly because William keeps them apart, but also because another girl at school has him interested. Jennifer is shocked and frustrated by all of this. Jennifer meets Nick Ryan (Jordan) at a gas station and soon forms a close relationship with him, which she keeps secret from her parents. Nick has a reputation for having spent time in jail on an assault charge. When Jennifer's parents spend a weekend away from the house, Jennifer uses the opportunity to get closer with Nick. Not trusting Jennifer, her parents return home early. They catch her in their bed with Nick. William furiously chases Nick out of the house, although Jennifer insists that she's in love with him. She continues dating Nick secretly, and uses makeup to convince him that William gave her a black eye. Concerned, Nick asks Jennifer to stay with him. She is touched by his offer, but declines. Back home, Jennifer's mother Susan (Hoffman) expresses disgust with the girl for having sex behind her parents' backs. She takes William's side against their daughter and her friends. Jennifer is grounded for the rest of the school year. Nick visits Jennifer's house, and proclaims his love for her. He also states what he thinks of the harsh manner in which William treats Jennifer. William, shocked by Nick's audacity, threatens to sue him for statutory rape. He also threatens Nick with dire physical injury. The next morning, William finds his car vandalized and contacts the police. Nick is questioned, but denies all knowledge of the incident. Jennifer, knowing of her father's determination to have Nick imprisoned, convinces him to get his grandfather's pistol and kill her parents. While he plans out the murder, Jennifer tells her friends at school that she and Nick have broken up. She also presents herself to William and Susan as their idea of a model teenager. Although convinced that Jennifer has reformed and become truthful, her dad and mom couldn't care less. On the night for which they've scheduled her parents' murder, Nick reconsiders the plan at the last moment; with Jennifer's vehement encouragement, however, he goes through with it. After the killings, which the police presume were done by a burglar, Jennifer is sent to live with her grandmother Rose. Nick, the prime suspect, is harassed by the cops. Jennifer rekindles her relationship with Brad. She calls the police anonymously with information that leads to their discovery of the gun with which Nick murdered her parents. With Nick in custody, the case seems to be closed. However, Detective Daniels (Eric Laneuville) suspects that Jennifer knows more regarding this case than she let on during police interrogation. When confronted, Jennifer claims that Nick was angry at her parents for not letting him see her, thereby explaining Nick's motive. Meanwhile, Jennifer's best friend Karen Winkler (Sisto) finds her diary; it reveals how Jennifer used Nick to do away with her parents so that she could have Brad. Karen visits Nick in jail, and tells him how he's been set up by Jennifer. When he confronts Jennifer about it, she angrily blows Nick off, blaming him entirely for the murders of her dad and mom. Upset, he admits to the police that he killed William and Susan, but that it was Jennifer's idea. The police claim Jennifer's diary as evidence, only to find that she has rewritten the journal and thus made it useless. Frustrated, Karen sneaks into Jennifer's house to search for additional evidence; she fails to discover anything, and narrowly escapes being caught in the act. At Nick's murder trial, Jennifer falsely testifies that Nick harassed her. When Karen's determination to stop her becomes apparent, Jennifer threatens to implicate her in the murders of William and Susan. Eventually, a wired Brad manipulates Jennifer into admitting responsibility for her parents' deaths. The police pop in to arrest Jennifer for murdering her dad and mom. An epilogue reveals that Jennifer Stanton was tried as a juvenile; thus, her release from prison at age 21 would be mandatory...while Nick Ryan is now on death row. 

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Barry Champlain, a Jewish radio personality in Dallas, Texas, is a host with a caustic sense of humor and a knack for condescending to his audience with his controversial political views. Champlain's radio show is about to go nationwide. A former suit salesman, he achieves his rise to fame through guest shots on the Jeff Fisher radio show. Barry begins to steal the show with his acerbic sense of humor and sharp wit, which aggravates Fisher. Barry is subsequently given his own show which rises to the top of the Arbitron radio ratings. Barry receives calls from people who appreciate him for what he does and how he does it as well as people who seem to hate him. Attacking everyone from gays to drug addicts to rednecks to African Americans, he has a substantial number of hostile callers, from people who take offense to his attitude to radical right wingers to hate groups phoning in to harass and intimidate him. He receives threatening fan mail when one caller makes a bomb threat. His rise to fame is accompanied not only with attention from radical far-right elements, but also with the alienation of his wife. As his show is going through a final audition to go into national syndication, Barry grows increasingly isolated and asks his ex-wife Ellen to come and visit him, saying he needs her input and that she's the only person he trusts. They attempt a return to their relationship. Using a fake name and calling from the radio studio, Ellen talks to Barry on the air—the only place he seems to relate to people openly—in an attempt to reach him, to bring him back from the depression he seems to be suffering from. She begs for him to come back, but Barry refuses, bitterly attacking her as the radio production staff, all friends of Ellen, watch in horror; Ellen walks away. Barry confesses his true intentions, admitting he cares more for personal gain than the societal ills he addresses and refusing to apologize for his hypocrisy. He shouts that the American people scare him because of what has happened to his friends, family, and co-workers. He berates his callers that they have nothing worth saying, and that they tolerate his abuse and return for more. He screams at them to go away, seemingly unaware of the obvious fact that he attracts his own listeners and most of the ire he receives. In the end he realizes he has made his own bed and is as stuck with them as they are with him. Despite Barry's meltdown, his co-workers tell him it's now the highest rated segment in the show's history and his boss adds that the show is going to go national. While Barry is walking to his car, an apparent fan asks for his autograph. As Barry signs it, the "fan" pulls out a gun and shoots him several times, killing him. As the film ends, callers to Barry's show, then his co-workers and Ellen, speak on air about him. They say that Barry was a talented, smart and funny man, but none of that mattered; he hated himself, and his death wish was finally granted. 

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Michener writes largely from the point of view of the Afrikaners, descendants of Dutch settlers and French Huguenot immigrants who traveled to South Africa to practice freedom of worship in the Calvinist tradition, and other European groups (such as the Germans), all of whom were absorbed by the Afrikaans-speaking Dutch Reformed Church. The Afrikaners, whose Dutch ancestors first established a trading and refueling stop at Cape Town in the 17th century to service ships moving between Holland and Java, and whose ranks were augmented by Huguenot and other northern European immigrants, considered themselves the "New Israelites". They found in the Old Testament verification for their belief that God favored their conquest of the new land. Their strict, fundamentalist interpretation of the Bible supported them through the Great Trek of the 19th century; battles against Zulu and other Bantu tribes, who also laid claim to lands to the north; the Anglo-Boer War (when after the British won the war on the conventional battlefield and took all the main Boer towns and cities, a few Boer Commandos or guerrilla bands of a few hundred Afrikaner farmers continued to hold out in isolated pockets of the veld until the cessation of hostilities, despite tens of thousands of British regulars combing the countryside in pursuit of them); and their institution of Apartheid in the 20th century, when they insisted on racial purity, separatism, and white supremacy, per the moral expectations of the God of Israel in the Old Testament and their own determination to keep political power in the hands of Whites of European descent. Michener suggests that the Afrikaner oppression of Blacks was partly due to Dutch animosity towards the English, who assumed political and financial control of southern Africa in 1795 and fought against the traditional way of life, including slavery, pursued by Afrikaner farmers, or Boers. As one Bantu character observes, "no matter whether the English or the Dutch win, the Blacks always lose." Both historical and fictional characters appear throughout the novel. The experiences of the fictional van Doorn family illustrate the Dutch and Huguenot heritage of South Africa, and in the 1970s also illustrate the differences between liberal and conservative Afrikaners. The fictional Saltwood family represents the English settlement of the area. The Nxumalo family illustrates the area's black heritage and culture. African Zulu leader Shaka appears in the novel, during the chapter on the Mfecane. 

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Eric Cartman must go to the local eye doctor, whom he hates because the doctor always makes fun of his obesity by referring to him as "Piggy". Cartman is told that he has bad vision and has his eyes dilated; he is later given a pair of thick-rimmed glasses which are then stapled to his head so that he cannot take them off. Later, he and the other boys discover that Chef has quit his job at South Park Elementary and has been replaced by Mr. Derp, a cliché cartoon character (who may also be a parody of Pauly Shore), who tries (and fails) to win them over with his poor slapstick comedy gags. They then find out that Chef has a new girlfriend, Veronica, (voiced by Michael Ann Young) who has caused his life to change from that of a free- spirited, soul-singing cafeteria chef to that of a mediocre office worker. She is also extremely fond of singing the love theme from The Poseidon Adventure, "The Morning After" at inappropriate times. The boys believe that she is trying to steal Chef away from them and are dismayed when they discover that the two are planning to get married. Not wanting Chef to go too, the boys seek advice from Mr. Garrison, who suggests that Veronica is a succubus: a demoness sent from Hell to prey on and suck the life out of men. The boys go to warn Chef of this, but instead they meet his parents, who tell them about their frequent meetings with the Loch Ness Monster, claiming that the beast is stalking and constantly pestering them for a sum of "about tree fiddy" ($3.50). (This is a take on constant jokes mostly from black comedians, like Richard Pryor, about unusual people asking for money or food during hard times.) Meanwhile, a botched attempt at laser eye surgery leaves Cartman temporarily blinded. While the others mock him, Veronica comes to visit them. She manages to convince them that she is not a monster but, just as she is about to leave, suddenly takes on a demonic face, laughing maniacally and declaring that they cannot stop her from marrying Chef. The boys try to tell Chef of this at the rehearsal dinner, but he angrily shuts them out. They go back to Cartman's place to formulate a plan to stop the wedding. The boys discover that a succubus controls the minds of men with a melody and that playing it backwards will vanquish it. They remember that Veronica always sings "The Morning After" and proceed to learn how to sing the song backwards. At the wedding, they play a tape of the song backwards while Stan and Kyle sing the words in reverse order. Veronica begins to lose her hold on her human form. When the tape gets jammed, she peels off her human disguise and reverts to her true shape—a bizarre, red-eyed, bat-winged, hag-like monster—flying around and wrecking the church (and killing Kenny in the process). When the boys finish singing the song, Veronica is sucked back into Hell. Chef, no longer under her evil spell, apologizes to the boys for ignoring them and eventually returns to their school as the chef and as his old self. Cartman returns to his optometrist, who tells him that, with eyes as bad as his, he will always have to wear glasses. He solves this problem by convincing the doctor to give him an eye transplant, using Kenny's frozen head as a donor. The optometrist then asks for $3.50, suggesting that Chef's parents' tales were not entirely fabricated. 

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Lemmon plays Sam Bissell, a hard-working San Francisco advertising executive, with two young daughters and a loving wife, Min (Dorothy Provine). An extremely important client, Simon Nurdlinger (Edward G. Robinson), is considering taking his business elsewhere when he believes there are no "family men" working at Sam's company. Sam's boss, Mr. Burke (Edward Andrews), introduces the client to Sam. The client is delighted by Sam and agrees to do business with him and the company. Sam feels his career is now on the way up and he goes home to celebrate with his wife. There, he meets his wife's longtime friend and their new next-door neighbor, Janet (Romy Schneider), and they all have dinner together to celebrate his promotion and Janet's new home. Sam gets drunk and tumbles down the grand carpeted staircase of the Fairmont Hotel, knocking down a waiter carrying trays of meals. Janet, a beautiful woman, is recently divorced from her husband Howard (Michael Connors) and is happier than ever. She has also come into a large inheritance from her grandfather, which carries the stipulation that she must still be married to Howard in order to receive the inheritance. State law dictates that a divorce is not final until a year from final settlement. Since only six months have passed, Janet decides to hide the divorce from her cousins Irene (Anne Seymour) and Jack (Charles Lane) who stand to inherit if Janet is disqualified. With Howard unavailable, Sam is pressed to impersonate him when Irene and Jack arrive for a visit. Having never met Howard, Irene and Jack seem convinced but begin watching the couple with a telescopic surveillance camera hidden in a phony workmen's truck nearby. Janet and Sam (with Min's complicity) are thereby forced to continue the charade for several days, with Sam cohabiting and being driven to work by Janet, and sneaking in to occasionally visit Min through the back yard, or hidden in a laundry basket. When caught pretending by Mr. Burke and Mr. Nurdlinger, Sam and Janet are then forced into a double charade in which Janet pretends to be Min. The situation begins to unravel when Irene and Jack hire a private investigator to keep watch on Sam and Janet, and Howard re-enters the picture. Sam panics after noticing new advertising billboards around the city showing his face with Janet's, and so paints clown faces on them late the last night before the attorney is to give Howard and Janet their inheritance. 

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Carmen and Wayne Colson live a quiet, suburban life. Carmen is a realtor while Wayne is an ironworker. Suddenly everything is violently changed when they stumble upon an extortion plot hatched by two crooks, Armand "Blackbird" Degas and his partner Richie Nix. While Richie is unstable and impatient, the Blackbird is calm and collected. After Wayne forces the two away with a Sleever Bar, the criminals decide to exact vengeance on the Colsons, leading to a tense climax. 

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After capturing a trio of muggers assaulting Ernie Popchik (an elderly tenant of his Aunt May's), Spider-Man learns that his close friend NYPD Captain Jean DeWolff has been killed in her sleep. Spider-Man confronts the police officer in charge of the investigation, Sergeant Stan Carter. Carter tells him Jean was killed by a close-range double-barreled shotgun blast, and that her badge is missing. Meanwhile, attorney Matt Murdock (the civilian identity of Daredevil) is assigned to represent Popchik's muggers at their arraignment; he succeeds in getting them released without bail, and through his super-senses also finds out Spider-Man's secret identity as Peter Parker when the latter attends the trial in May's and Popchik's company. However, he is disgusted by his clients' rowdy behavior, and speaks with the judge presiding over the case — his friend and mentor, Horace Rosenthal — about his misgivings with doing pro bono publico work. During their talk he senses an armed and masked intruder in Rosenthal's chamber. After Rosenthal leaves, the intruder introduces himself as the Sin-Eater and tries to shoot Murdock. Hearing the commotion, Rosenthal returns and is shot by the Sin-Eater. The Sin-Eater then escapes through the window. On the streets outside, Spider-Man responds to the panic aroused by the Sin-Eater's appearance. He opens fire on Spider-Man, who leaps above the scattergun blasts. The bullets hit a crowd of bystanders. During their fight, Spider-Man spots a gavel and a badge on the Sin-Eater's belt, and realizes he must be the one who killed Jean DeWolff. However, when he sees Aunt May lying senseless on the ground, he allows the Sin-Eater to escape so that he can help her. Spider-Man successfully petitions Carter for unofficial approval to search DeWolff's apartment. Carter also reveals the folklore behind the term sin-eater, and mentions that he is a former S.H.I.E.L.D. agent. Spider-Man is unable to find any clues in DeWolff's apartment, but discovers a collection of news clippings indicating that she was romantically interested in him. While at Rosenthal's funeral, Murdock recognizes Sin-Eater's heartbeat among those attending DeWollf's funeral nearby, but there are too many mourners for him to pick out which one is the Sin-Eater. Later that night, the Sin-Eater approaches the priest who officiated Jean's funeral, Father Bernard Finn, and shoots him. A media circus breaks out in the city over the Sin-Eater murders, with an opportunistic community leader, Reverend Jackson Tulliver, feeding the flames of public discontent. Spider-Man learns that one of the bystanders hit by the bullets he dodged died from his wounds; Carter assuages Spider-Man's guilt over this. Daredevil and Spider-Man separately comb the underworld, but are unable to find anyone with knowledge of the Sin-Eater. The Sin-Eater enters the Daily Bugle building, demanding to see J. Jonah Jameson (who is actually on vacation). Bugle editor-in-chief Joe Robertson acts as a decoy, and Parker throws a typewriter roller, knocking the Sin-Eater out. The Sin- Eater is identified as Emil Gregg. Gregg has no memory of committing the murders, but claims that voices ordered each one the night before. Convinced that he couldn't resist the voices, he instead went on his mission to kill Jameson early, in the hope that things would then go wrong and he would be caught. However, Daredevil arrives to hear Gregg's confession, and does not recognize Gregg's heartbeat as that of the Sin-Eater he encountered before. Daredevil tells Spider-Man that Emil Gregg must be a copycat. Spider-Man is skeptical, since Gregg has a history of mental instability and knows details of the murders that weren't released to the public, so Daredevil takes him to Gregg's apartment in hope of finding some proof of his innocence. Once there, Daredevil finds the door to the next apartment has been recently jimmied. Some unopened mail reveals the apartment is Stan Carter's, and Daredevil opens a closet to find shotguns, Sin-Eater costumes, and a tape recorder. He deduces that Gregg's "voices in the night" were actually Carter recording his war journal next door. He also notes that there are two empty gun holsters; Gregg broke into Carter's apartment to take one shotgun, but the other must have been taken by Carter to kill J. Jonah Jameson. Spider-Man realizes Carter is headed to the Jameson house and will most likely kill the only two people there: Jonah's wife Marla and secretary Betty Leeds, who is also the first person Spider-Man fell in love with. He calls the Bugle building and gets the house number from Robertson, then calls there. The phone picks up and he briefly hears Betty's voice, but as he tries to warn her, the only further response he receives is the sound of a shotgun being fired. Spider-Man races to the Jameson house to avenge Betty. When he arrives, however, he finds that Betty is alive, having fended off the Sin-Eater for the past few minutes. Spider-Man defeats Carter and begins beating him mercilessly, not stopping even after he loses consciousness. Daredevil arrives and pulls him away. Spider-Man refuses to back off, and the two superheroes fight. Daredevil taunts Spider-Man, using his enraged emotional state against him, and finally knocks him unconscious. Stan Carter is brought to jail, and the news that the Sin-Eater was a policeman shocks the city. Mr. Popchik "snaps" at the news and takes his World War II service pistol into the city, determined to prove he is not defenseless. While riding a New York City Subway train, he is threatened by three teenage muggers. He pulls his gun and shoots them, leaving them wounded, and then turns himself in. The police are informed by agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. that Carter was a subject of experiments with modifications of PCP, explaining both his superpowers and his activities as Sin-Eater. Plans to transfer Carter to the prison on Riker's Island leak to the press, and an angry mob besieges the police station. With some riot-geared officers working up a distraction, the police try to board Carter onto a truck, but the mob, led by Jean DeWolff's stepfather, forces itself onto the police, threatening to lynch Carter. Daredevil throws himself in between, but is overwhelmed by the mob. When Spider-Man turns his back, Daredevil cries out "Peter!". Realizing the mob will kill Daredevil if he doesn't intervene, Spider-Man swings both Carter and Daredevil to safety. After the crowd is dispersed, Carter is safely loaded onto the police truck. Daredevil then reveals his own secret identity to Spider-Man, and after discussing the latter's recent disillusionment for the criminal justice system, Matt offers to arrange for a lawyer for Mr. Popchik through pro bono publico in order to prove his side of the argument. 

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Lobby card for the film Two years after her husband's death, Christine Faber (Lynn Bari) thinks she hears her late husband (Donald Curtis) calling out of the surf on the beach one night. She meets a tall dark man named Alexis (Turhan Bey) who seems to know all about her. After more ghostly manifestations, Christine and her younger sister (Cathy O'Donnell) become enmeshed in the strange life of Alexis, a spiritualist; but he in turn finds himself manipulated into deeper devilry than he had in mind. Alexis has hired Emily (Virginia Gregg) as Christine's maid to learn secret inside information. Sister Janet checks out Alexis only to fall in love with him. Christine gets engaged to Martin (Richard Carlson) and he hires a detective (Harry Mendoza) to protect Christine. Alexis puts on a convincing séance and afterward the real Paul Faber appears. He had faked his own death and now Alexis must continue his con in concert with Paul. Christine hears Paul's voice and falls off a cliff only to be saved by Alexis and Janet. Martin wants Christine to leave her house for safety. Christine wants to hear Paul's voice and his piano music. Janet starts to search the house for speakers and she finds Alexis and the alive Paul. Alexis protects Janet but he is shot. The police arrive and shoot and kill Paul. 

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An old Yakuza boss named Kurata decides to retire from his criminal activities and disbands his gang. Kurata's fiercely loyal enforcer, Tetsuya "Phoenix Tetsu" Hondo, finds himself unable to enjoy a life outside of organized crime. He is hounded by a rival gang after turning down a recruitment offer by its boss, Otsuka. Berra (2010), 282. Otsuka seeks Kurata's retirement as an opportunity to seize his territory via a real estate scam, seeing Tetsu as a threat to his plans. Kurata is eventually forced to convince Tetsu to become a drifter. Otsuka sends his hitman "Viper" Tatsuzo to kill Tetsu, who evades him and Otsuka's hit squad a number of times with help from a former Otsuka gang member named Kenji. Tetsu later reaches the establishment of Kurata's ally Umetani, who reveals that Kurata joined forces with Otsuka and placed a bounty on Tetsu's head. A betrayed Tetsu returns to Tokyo for a final confrontation with Otsuka, killing everyone but his former girlfriend Chiharu, and Kurata takes his own life to redeem himself. Tetsu rejects Chiharu's plea for her to accompany him on his travels, explaining that he has dedicated himself to the wanderer lifestyle and could not abandon it for another's company. 

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Newlyweds, Mitch (Kip Pardue) and Julianne (Tara Reid), escape their normal lives and travel to a deserted island for a romantic and adventurous honeymoon, staying for two weeks at an old cottage in the middle of a secluded lake. They discover the area has no electricity or phone coverage, as Julianne tries to settle in despite her fear of water and inability to swim. Mitch enjoys the country life, and when Julianne wants to go into town to call her parents, to confirm her safety, he gets overprotective of her. While the two weeks go by, Julianne is eager to return home to start their new lives, but Mitch refuses to go back to that life, wanting them to stay put in his ideal setting, even when Julianne cannot find her birth control pills to prevent her pregnancy. When Julianne finds out Mitch had stalked her before they met and got married, she attempts to leave, and she sees a grave in the woods across the lake before Mitch brings her back. To ensure that she does not attempt to escape again, Mitch disposes of their boat. One night as Mitch is asleep, Julianne takes the key worn around his neck to open his safe box, having grown suspicious of it. She finds a property deed and learns he inherited the land from his deceased father and that he had often visited the property with his dad. Using a raft to head across the lake, she tries to escape again in Mitch's pick-up truck, only for Mitch to find her there, and knock her unconscious. Chained to an anchor and a tree, Julianne realizes how psychotic Mitch is, and that he knew everything about her, including her fear of water, using it to hold her at their location. Determined to leave, Julianne burns their matches, forcing Mitch to go into town to buy new ones. While he is gone, she gets an axe and breaks free from the chain. He comes back unexpectedly early, and she is almost discovered in her act of escape. When he finds out about it, Mitch begins physically abusing her. After he steps into a bear trap that she had buried, Julianne counterattacks and uses the shotgun he brought back to shoot him in the arm. Mitch remains alive, but he can barely move and is unable to fight back, as Julianne frees herself and leaves him for dead, with the shotgun. Overcoming her fear of water, she swims across the lake to the other side and later hears a gunshot, indicating that Mitch has killed himself, seemingly unable to cope with the fact that he has lost Julianne forever due to his own abusive, controlling nature. The final scene shows Julianne leaving her wedding ring in Mitch's disabled truck and walking away down a country road to an uncertain future, but free. 

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The quiet lives of an Egyptian family are disturbed when the father, Imhotep, returns from the north with his new concubine, Nofret, who begins to sow discontent amongst them. Once the deaths begin, fears are aroused of a curse upon the house, but is the killer closer to home? 

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In spring 1944 during World War II, Gordon Cloade marries a widow he meets on board ship to New York, Rosaleen Underhay. A few days after arriving in London with his new wife, his London home is bombed, killing all but two people. One survivor is Gordon's brother-in-law, David Hunter, and the other is his new wife, Rosaleen Cloade. Gordon did not write a new will upon arrival, and his existing will is invalidated by the marriage. Rosaleen inherits Gordon's fortune. A day or so later, during another raid, Poirot sits in a shelter with people from the Concordia club in London and listens to a story about Major Porter's friend Robert Underhay in Africa, about his unhappy marriage and that Underhay may not be dead, told after reading out the news that Gordon Cloade, the second husband of Underhay's widow, was killed by enemy action. The death of Gordon Cloade brings unexpected change to his siblings and their families. Gordon gave them capital to start a venture, to handle unexpected expenses, encouraged them not to save, and promised his fortune would be split among them when he died. 

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A notice appears in the paper of Chipping Cleghorn: "A murder is announced and will take place on Friday, 29 October, at Little Paddocks, at 6.30 pm. Friends accept this, the only intimation." This surprises Letitia Blacklock, owner of Little Paddocks; however, she takes it in stride and prepares for guests that evening. The villagers are intrigued by the notice, and several of them appear with awkward reasons but definite interest. As the clock strikes 6.30, the lights go out and a door swing open, revealing a man with a blinding torch who demands the guests "Stick 'em up!" Most do so, believing it to be part of a game, but the game ends when shots are fired into the room. When the lights turn on, Miss Blacklock's ear is bleeding, from a bullet grazing her earlobe, and the gunman is dead on the ground. Dora Bunner ("Bunny") recognizes the gunman as Rudi Scherz, a foreigner who works as a receptionist at a local hotel, and who had asked Letitia for money a few days ago. The scene suggests to the police that this is a strange suicide or accidental death, but Inspector Craddock is not satisfied. Craddock is advised to involve Miss Marple, currently, a guest at the spa hotel where Scherz was employed, in the case, and the two work together. They learn that Scherz has a criminal background of petty theft and forgery. Scherz's girlfriend, a waitress at the spa, reveals that he had been paid to appear as the holdup man; he believed it was "a silly English joke". Craddock returns to Chipping Cleghorn, where Miss Marple stays with the local vicar's wife. Establishing a motive for Scherz's attack on Miss Blacklock is difficult. She worked for the financier Randall Goedler and has done well for herself but is not wealthy. However, she may inherit a great deal of money; Randall Goedler's estate passed to his wife Belle, who is now frail and ill. When Belle dies, Miss Blacklock inherits everything, but if she predeceases Belle, the estate goes to the mysterious "Pip" and "Emma", children of Randall's estranged sister, Sonia. Inspector Craddock discovers oil on the hinges of a door into the parlor, thought to be unused, and Bunny mentions that until recently there had been a table placed against the door. Craddock travels to Scotland to meet Belle; she mentions that Letitia had a beloved sister, Charlotte, who developed a goiter. Their father, a doctor, tried unsuccessfully to treat Charlotte, but she only withdrew further into herself as her goiter worsened. Their father died shortly before World War II, and Letitia gave up her job with Goedler and took her sister to Switzerland for surgery. The two sisters waited out the war in Switzerland, but before it was over, Charlotte died very suddenly. Letitia returned to England alone. Miss Marple takes tea with Bunny, and Bunny reveals the recently oiled door she found with the Inspector. She is sure that Patrick Simmons, a young cousin of Letitia's, is not as he appears. Simmons, with his sister Julia and Phillipa Haymes, a young widow, is staying at Little Paddocks. Bunny is also certain there was a different lamp in the room on the night of the murder, but their tête-à-tête is interrupted when Letitia arrives. Letitia arranges a birthday party for Bunny, complete with almost everyone who was at the house when Scherz was killed. She asks Mitzi the cook to make her special cake, which Patrick has nicknamed "Delicious Death". After the party, Bunny has a headache, but she cannot find her recently purchased aspirin so takes some from a bottle in Letitia's room. The next day, Bunny is found dead. Miss Marple visits the mourning Miss Blacklock and asks to see photo albums which might contain pictures of Sonia Goedler, Pip, and Emma's mother, but all photos of Sonia have been removed from the albums. When Miss Blacklock receives a letter from the real Julia Simmons, she confronts the impostor, who reveals herself to be "Emma"; however, she denies attempting to kill Miss Blacklock and claims she has not seen her twin Pip. Through deduction and re- enactment, Misses Hinchcliffe and Murgatroyd (two spinsters present at the time of the Scherz shooting) figure out that Miss Murgatroyd, who was behind the opened door and thus not blinded by the torch, could see who was in the room when the torch shone on their faces.. The two women conclude that the person who was not in the room could have left the room when the lights went out and come around behind Scherz and shot him and at Miss Blacklock. Just as Miss Murgatroyd remembers the one person, not in the room, the phone rings, summoning Miss Hinchcliffe to the veterinarian. As Miss Hinchcliffe drives away, Murgatroyd runs into the driveway, shouting "She wasn't there!". When Miss Hinchcliffe returns, she meets with Miss Marple, and together they discover Murgatroyd's body, strangled. The distraught Hinchcliffe informs Miss Marple of Murgatroyd's cryptic statement. When the vicar's cat shorts out a lamp at the vicarage, the final clue falls into place for Miss Marple. Inspector Craddock gathers everyone at Little Paddocks, where Mitzi claims to have seen Miss Blacklock shoot Scherz. But Craddock dismisses her and accuses Edmund Swettenham (who, with his widowed mother, was also present at the shooting) of being Pip. However, Phillipa Haymes comes forward and confesses she is Pip. Craddock accuses Edmund of wanting to marry a rich wife in Phillipa by murdering Letitia, but as Edmund denies this, a scream is heard from the kitchen, where they find Miss Blacklock attempting to drown Mitzi in the sink. When Miss Blacklock hears Dora Bunner's voice, she releases Mitzi and breaks down, and is arrested. Miss Marple reveals the truth: it was not Charlotte who died in Switzerland, but Letitia. Aware that Letitia was in line to inherit a fortune, Charlotte posed as her deceased sister and returned to England, where few people knew her. She avoided people who knew Letitia well, such as Belle Goedler, and covered her throat with strings of pearls or beads to hide the scars from her goiter surgery. But Rudi Scherz could have exposed her, as he worked at the Swiss hospital where Charlotte had been treated and could identify her, which is why Charlotte killed him. Dora Bunner, whom Charlotte had taken into her confidence, was prone to slip-ups. On several occasions, she referred to Miss Blacklock as "Lotty" (short for "Charlotte") instead of "Letty" (short for "Letitia"), and her conversation with Miss Marple in the cafe proved fatal. Amy Murgatroyd was killed for realizing that Charlotte was the one person whose face was not illuminated by Rudi Scherz's torch. Miss Marple persuaded Mitzi and Edmund to play parts in tripping up Charlotte Blacklock; Phillipa's admission to being Pip was not planned, but Inspector Craddock managed to keep up the act and claim Edmund was after Phillipa's money. Mitzi had agreed to serve as the bait, and Miss Marple imitated Bunny's voice to cause Charlotte to break down. Ultimately, Phillipa and "Julia" inherit the Goedler fortune; Edmund and Phillipa get married and return to Chipping Cleghorn to live. 

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A secret summit of superpowers is to be held in Baghdad, but it is no longer secret. A shadowy group (which is both anti-Communist and anti-Capitalist) is plotting to sabotage the event. Things get complicated when enthusiastic young "adventurer" Victoria Jones discovers a dying secret British agent – Henry "Fakir" Carmichael – in her hotel room. His last words – "Lucifer...Basrah...Lefarge" – propel her into investigation. "Lucifer" refers to the mastermind, Victoria's false lover Edward, who is behind the plot. "Basrah" is the city where Carmichael saw Edward and recognised him as an enemy. "Lefarge" turns out to actually be "Defarge" and is a reference to a Charles Dickens character; it is an allusion to the fact that the name of a vital witness has been stitched into a scarf. While Victoria is the central character, the real heroine is Anna Scheele, secretary/executive assistant to an American banker, who has discovered a great deal about finances of the shadowy group. She appears rather sparingly, with a few brief appearances in the early part of the story, then seems to vanish, to the chagrin of the evil organization who fear her financial knowledge and who want to liquidate her, and of her allies who wish to protect her. She is presumed dead by her allies but she reappears at the eleventh hour in a most surprising manner. 

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Poirot, disillusioned by the "senseless cruel brutality" of modern crime, pays no attention to the sad case of Mrs McGinty, an old woman apparently struck dead by her lodger for thirty pounds that she kept under a floorboard. When, however, he is asked by the investigating officer to take another look at the case to stop an innocent man going to the gallows, he realises that things may not be as simple as they appear. 

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While visiting her American school friend Ruth Van Rydock in London, Miss Marple learns that Ruth is seriously concerned for her sister Carrie Louise. She asks Miss Marple to visit Carrie Louise at Stonygates, her home in England. Miss Marple agrees to the visit. She is impressed by the size of the Victorian mansion, which now has a separate building for delinquent boys, the cause which engages Carrie Louise and her third husband, Lewis Serrocold. Carrie Louise has her family living with her, as her granddaughter Gina has brought her American husband Walter to England to meet her family. Daughter Mildred Strete moved back home after she was widowed. Stepsons Stephen and Alexis Restarick, now grown, are frequent visitors and are present during Miss Marple's visit. One of the first people Miss Marple encounters is young Edgar Lawson, a young man acting as a secretary to Serrocold; Lawson shows clear signs of paranoid schizophrenia, but these are largely ignored. Miss Marple learns that Carrie Louise has experienced health problems incident to old age. Nevertheless, Miss Marple is pleased to see that Carrie Louise is still the sweet, idealistic, and loving person she has known. An unexpected visitor arrives at Stonygates—Christian Gulbrandsen, Carrie Louise's stepson from her first marriage and a trustee of the charitable foundation that his father set up with the wealth he generated in his life. Lewis Serrocold walks from the train station and meets Christian on the terrace. Miss Marple watches them through her bird-watcher's binoculars and tries to learn the reason for Christian's unexpected visit. She hears a few phrases concerning the importance of keeping a problem from Carrie Louise, and that the two men agree to call for outside help. Both men enter for dinner, and afterwards, Christian retires to his room to write letters. The rest of the household is held entranced by a scene that plays out in the office of Lewis Serrocold. Lawson enters it with a gun, locks the door, and speaks loudly to Lewis, claiming Lewis is his father and has treated him badly. Lawson threatens to shoot him, while Lewis tries to calm the young man. Tension is added to the scene because an electrical problem has caused most of the “Great Hall” outside Lewis's office to go dark. Walter knows how to fix the overloaded fuse, so he leaves the room to fix it and then rejoins the group. While Edgar Lawson is ranting to Lewis, the family hear shots and intervene by trying to open the door. Another shot (not fired in Lewis's office) had been heard by some, but not all. When the door to Lewis's office is finally opened, Lewis scoffs at any concern for himself, and they see that the shots Lawson fired had hit the wall. Lawson collapses in tears and apologies. Meanwhile, "Jolly" Juliet Bellever, housekeeper and companion to Carrie Louise, had gone out to find the key to the office. She returns to the room and says she has called the police, not because of the scene between Edgar Lawson and Lewis Serrocold, but because she has found Christian Gulbrandsen dead in his room from a gunshot. Lewis proceeds to Christian's room, followed by Carrie Louise and Miss Marple. Alexis Restarick arrives at the house. His brother Stephen was already there, playing the piano after dinner. Then the police arrive. Inspector Curry quickly establishes that none of the people from the facility for delinquent boys are involved, nor any of the servants either. Curry discovers that there was a sheet of paper in the typewriter when Jolly entered the dead man's room. Lewis admits to removing it, explaining that he had feared his wife would read it and discover that the reason for Christian's visit was his fear that someone had been poisoning Carrie Louise. Lewis suggests that the poison is in her medicine, a liquid which is shown to contain arsenic. Miss Marple comments that most of the family would be pleased if Walter were found to be the killer, but Christian was not killed by Walter's gun, which was in Lawson's hand during the interval. Police find the murder weapon under some music inside the piano bench. Alexis explains that his drive to the house was slowed by the fog, and that what he saw and heard in the fog, such as a shot and the sound of someone running, gave him an idea for a stage set. Alexis envisions the house as a stage, which causes Miss Marple to begin thinking differently about the murder. The next evening, Alexis and the boy Ernie Gregg are killed by stage weights. Miss Marple explains to the police how one person could run from Lewis's study to Christian's room along the terrace in under two minutes—Lewis Serrocold. Lawson spoke as both himself and Lewis, while Lewis killed Christian and returned out of breath. The suspicion of Carrie Louise's poisoning was a ruse created by Lewis. The real reason for Christian Gulbrandsen's visit was that he had learned that Lewis was embezzling from the Gulbrandsen Trust. The reader also learns that Edgar Lawson was only pretending to be schizophrenic; in reality, he is the illegitimate son of Lewis. When confronted by the police, Lawson flees the house, jumping into an old boat to cross a lake on the property. The boat begins to sink, so Lewis Serrocold jumps into the lake to rescue his son. Both are caught in the reeds lining the lake and drown before the police can reach them. The scene of these deaths ends with Carrie Louise walking indoors with her daughter Mildred, as a new solidarity between mother and daughter is manifest. Carrie Louise's granddaughter Gina agrees to head back to America with her American husband Walter, averting a threatened separation. 

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When London businessman Rex Fortescue dies after drinking his morning tea, Scotland Yard Detective Inspector Neele spearheads the investigation. An autopsy reveals that the cause of death was poisoning by taxine, a toxic alkaloid obtained from the yew tree, and that Fortescue ingested it with his breakfast, while a search of his clothing reveals a quantity of rye in his jacket pocket. Rex's wife Adele is the main suspect in the murder. Son Lancelot and his wife Pat are travelling from Kenya to London, at the invitation of his father, according to Lance; at Paris, he wires that he will be home next day, and police meet him at the airport. The day Lance arrives at Yewtree Lodge, leaving his wife in London, Adele dies of cyanide in her tea, and a few hours later the maid Gladys Martin is found strangled in the yard, with a clothes pin put on her nose. Inspector Neele is working full-time with the aid of Sergeant Hay on these murders, interviewing all at the office and in the home. The older son, Percival, tells the Inspector that his father was erratic and ruining the business. After the story of the three murders is in the newspapers, Miss Marple arrives at Yewtree Lodge to shed light on Gladys Martin, who learned serving and cleaning at Miss Marple's home. Miss Ramsbottom, Rex's sister-in-law, invites her to stay. Inspector Neele agrees to work with Miss Marple, seeing what she can add. Neele learns that the taxine was ingested in marmalade, with a new jar put out at breakfast used by Rex alone; that jar had been tossed in the yard and found by police. When Miss Marple and Inspector Neele discuss the case, she asks him if he has asked about blackbirds, having seen the pattern of the old children's rhyme "Sing a Song of Sixpence." When he does ask, he learns of dead blackbirds on Rex's desk at home, a pie whose contents were removed and replaced with dead blackbirds, and from Lance, of the Blackbird Mine in east Africa. The Blackbird Mine was found by a Mr MacKenzie and suspected of containing gold. Rex Fortescue investigated the land after investing capital in it, then left MacKenzie there to die, returning alone and owning the land that he felt was of no value. Mrs MacKenzie had subsequently blamed Rex for her husband's death, promising to teach her children to avenge their father. Both the Inspector and Miss Marple suspect that the daughter is in the household under another name, as the son died in the war. The Inspector suspects Mary Dove, the housekeeper, and tells her so; later, Jennifer Fortescue, wife of Percy, tells Miss Marple that she was the MacKenzies' daughter, and the Inspector confirms it. Jennifer put out the dead blackbirds near Rex to remind him of his past offence; Miss Marple realizes this gave the theme to the murderer. Dove immediately blackmails Jennifer; Inspector Neele says if Dove pays the money back, he will not charge her. Miss Marple explains to Inspector Neele who killed Rex Fortescue: Gladys, who put the poison in the marmalade believing it was a truth drug, and the rye in his pocket, at the direction of her boyfriend, Albert Evans. The unattractive Gladys was very easy to persuade to assist him, never questioning his motives and flattered by his attentions. Miss Marple explains that Albert Evans is really Lance Fortescue, who wants the deed to the Blackbird Mine, as uranium has been found there. He arranged the murder of his father to stop the loss of cash and to deal only with his brother. He murdered his stepmother because she would inherit a large amount of money, but only if she lived thirty days after her husband, and he killed Gladys so she would not talk, leaving the clothes pin to match the line in the rhyme. When Miss Marple returns home, a letter from Gladys waylaid in the post awaits her. She explains all she did and begs Miss Marple's help, as she does not know what to do, and encloses a photo of her and her Albert -- clearly Lance Fortescue. Inspector Neele's case will be very strong. 

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An outbreak of apparent kleptomania at a student hostel arouses Hercule Poirot's interest when he sees the bizarre list of stolen and vandalised items. These include a stethoscope, some lightbulbs, some old flannel trousers, a box of chocolates, a slashed rucksack, some boracic powder and a diamond ring later found in a bowl of a soup – he congratulates the warden, Mrs Hubbard, on a 'unique and beautiful problem'. Poirot's solution of the petty thefts is unsubtle but effective: once he has threatened to call in the police, Celia Austin quickly confesses to the pettier incidents. She denies, however, the following: stealing Nigel Chapman's green ink and using it to deface Elizabeth Johnston's work; taking the stethoscope, the light bulbs and boracic powder; and cutting up and concealing a rucksack. She committed the lesser thefts to attract the attention of Colin McNabb, a psychology student who then becomes engaged to her. She makes restitution for the crimes and reconciles with her victims. The more important incidents remain unsolved. Celia is discovered dead the following morning from an overdose of morphine. It does not take investigators long to see that her death is murder. Inspector Sharpe solves the mystery of the stolen stethoscope during his interviews with the inhabitants of the hostel. Nigel Chapman admits to having stolen the stethoscope to pose as a doctor and steal some morphine tartrate from the hospital dispensary as part of a bet to acquire three deadly poisons (the other two being digitalin and hyoscine). He claims the poisons were carefully disposed of, but cannot be sure that the morphine was not stolen from him while it was in his possession. Poirot turns his attention to the reappearance of the diamond ring, and confronts Valerie Hobhouse, in whose soup the ring was found. It seems that the diamond had been replaced with a zircon and that only Valerie could place it in the dish of soup; Poirot accuses her of having stolen the diamond. She admits to having done so, saying that she needed the money to pay off gambling debts. She also admits to having planted in Celia Austin's mind the idea of the thefts. Mrs Nicoletis is behaving very nervously. She is killed by drinking poisoned brandy. Poirot focuses his attention now on the cutting up of the rucksack. By careful study of the rucksack's design, he identifies an unusual corrugated base, and suggests to the police that the rucksack is part of an international smuggling operation. The rucksacks were sold to innocent students, and then used to transport drugs and gems. Mrs Nicoletis had been bankrolling the organisation, but was not the brain behind it. When the police visited Hickory Road on an unconnected issue, the murderer had cut up the rucksack to avoid its being found and removed light bulbs to avoid being recognised. Patricia Lane comes to Nigel and admits that she has taken the morphine from the bottle in his drawer and substituted for it bicarbonate of soda. Now the bottle of bicarbonate of soda has been taken from her own drawer. While they are searching for this bottle she mentions that she is intending to write to his father to reconcile the two. Nigel tells her that the reason for his estrangement from his father is that he discovered that his father had poisoned his mother with Medinal, a trade name for barbitone sodium. This is why he changed his name and carries two passports. Nigel goes to Inspector Sharpe and tells him about the missing morphine, but while he is there, Patricia telephones to say that she has discovered something further. By the time that Nigel and Sharpe get to the house, she is dead, killed by a blow to the head. Akibombo comes to Sharpe and says that he had taken Patricia's bicarbonate to ease a stomach complaint; when he took a teaspoonful of the bicarbonate, however, he had stomach pains and later discovered that the white powder was in fact the boracic powder. By the time Patricia had substituted the bicarbonate, the morphine had already been substituted by the stolen boracic powder. Poirot's suspicions about Valerie Hobhouse's role in the smuggling operation are proved correct by a police raid on her beauty shop. The murderer is Nigel Chapman, who was known to have the morphine in his possession. He killed Celia because she knew about his dual identity and also knew that Valerie travelled abroad on a false passport. He killed Mrs Nicoletis because she was sure to give the smuggling operation away under pressure, and killed Patricia because she was likely to draw his father's attention to the recent events, as she was on the verge of writing a letter to him in the hope of reconciling him with his son before his death. When Poirot outlines to Nigel's father's solicitor the case against Nigel, the solicitor provides final proof. Nigel's mother had been poisoned, not by his father, but by Nigel. When the father discovered this ( is a poison slow to act, and the mother told her husband), he forced him to write a confession and left it with his solicitor together with a letter explaining that it should be presented to the authorities in case of any further wrongdoing by Nigel. Valerie placed the call to the police station, which had apparently come from Patricia, to establish an alibi for Nigel who had already bludgeoned Patricia. The green ink was a double-bluff intended to divert suspicion away from him. Valerie is willing to incriminate Nigel fully because Mrs Nicoletis was actually her mother. 

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Hilary Craven, a deserted wife and bereaved mother, is planning suicide in a Moroccan hotel, when she is asked by British secret agent Jessop to undertake a dangerous mission as an alternative to taking an overdose of sleeping pills. The task, which she accepts, is to impersonate the wife of Thomas Betterton, a nuclear scientist who has disappeared and may have defected to the Soviet Union. Soon she finds herself in a group of oddly-assorted travellers being transported to the unknown destination of the title. The destination turns out to be a secret scientific research facility disguised as a modern leper colony and medical research center at a remote location in the Atlas Mountains. The scientists are well-treated, but they are not allowed to leave the facility, and they are locked in secret areas deep inside the mountain whenever government officials and other outsiders visit. Hilary Craven successfully passes herself as Betterton's wife Olive, because he is miserable and wants desperately to escape. Hilary discovers that the facility was built by the fabulously wealthy and somewhat villainous Mr Aristides, for financial rather than political ends. He has lured the world's best young scientists to it with various deceptions so that he can later sell their services back to the world's governments and corporations for a huge profit. She falls in love with Andrew Peters, a handsome young American who was in the group with her on their journey to the facility. With the help of clues she has left along the way, Jessop eventually locates and rescues her and the others held there. Peters turns out also to be on a mission, intent on bringing Betterton to justice for the murder of his first wife. Betterton, revealed to also be a scientific fraud who plagiarized his work, is arrested. Hilary no longer wants to die, and she and Peters are free to begin their life together. 

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Mrs Elspeth McGillicuddy is on her way from a shopping expedition to visit her old friend Jane Marple for Christmas. Her train passes another train running parallel and in the same direction as her train. Then, a blind in one compartment flies up and she sees a man with his back to her strangling a woman. She reports it to a sceptical ticket collector who passes the report for investigation. When arriving at Miss Marple's cottage, she tells all to her. Mrs McGillicuddy describes the dying woman as having blonde hair and wearing a fur coat and the man as tall and dark, though she saw only his back. Miss Marple believes her story, knowing her friend to be trustworthy in description. With no report of a body found in the next day's news, Miss Marple sets out to determine where the body is. With a good map and several rides on the trains to feel the effect of a sharp curve on standing passengers, she determines that the body is on the grounds of Rutherford Hall. Miss Marple sends Lucy Eyelesbarrow, a young professional cook and housekeeper, to work at Rutherford Hall and find the body. Luther Crackenthorpe is a semi-invalid widower who lives in Rutherford Hall with his daughter Emma. Luther's father wrote a will that left his property for his eldest grandson, not liking his son. Luther receives the income for life. After Luther's death, the capital is to be divided equally among Luther's surviving children, not unlike a tontine pension. The share of cash rises to the living children as each sibling dies before their father dies. Edmund, the firstborn son, died during World War II. Youngest daughter Edith ("Edie"), died four years before the novel begins, leaving a son, Alexander. The remaining children are Cedric, an Ibiza-based bohemian painter; Harold, a married banker; Alfred, who engages in shady business dealings; and Emma. Others at the family home include Alexander's father Bryan Eastley, and Alexander's school friend James Stoddart-West, and local physician Dr Quimper, who looks after Luther but is in love with Emma. Lucy uses golf practice as a way to search the grounds. She discovers fur from a woman's fur coat caught on a bush. Then she finds a cheap compact. Lucy takes these to Miss Marple, who believes the murderer knew all about Rutherford Hall. He removed the body from the embankment where it had fallen away from the railway, drove a car outside the grounds at night and hid the body. Lucy finds the woman's body hidden in a sarcophagus in the old stables containing Luther's collection of dubious antiques. Who was she? The police, led by Inspector Craddock, identify the victim's clothing as purchased in Paris. Emma tells the police of two letters, one from her brother shortly before his death in the retreat to Dunkirk, and another received a few weeks before the woman's body is found. Her brother said he would marry a woman named Martine. The recent letter seemed to be from Martine, wanting to connect with the family of her son's father. There was not a second letter, nor a meeting with Martine. The police conclude that the body in the sarcophagus is that of Martine until Lady Stoddart-West, mother of James, reveals her identity. She confirms that Edmund's letter spoke of her, but he died before they could marry. She spoke up only because her son told her of the letter supposedly from Martine. The whole family, apart from the absent Bryan and Alexander, takes ill suddenly, and Alfred dies. Later, the curry made by Lucy on the fateful day is found to contain arsenic. Some days later, Harold, after returning home to London, receives a delivery of tablets from Dr Quimper, who had told him not to take more, yet sends him more. Harold takes them; poisoned with aconitine, Harold dies whilst being watched taking the tablets by Lady Alice, his wife. Lucy arranges an afternoon-tea visit to Rutherford Hall for Miss Marple and Mrs McGillicuddy. Miss Marple instructs Mrs McGillicuddy to ask to use the lavatory as soon as they arrive. Miss Marple is eating a fish-paste sandwich when she begins to choke on a fish bone. Dr Quimper moves to assist her. Mrs McGillicuddy enters the room at that moment, sees the doctor's hands at Miss Marple's throat, and cries out, "But that's him – that's the man on the train!" Miss Marple realised that her friend would recognise the real murderer if she saw him again in a similar pose. The dead woman was Quimper's wife, who would not divorce him so he killed her to be free to marry Emma. After the Quimpers separated, she joined a ballet troupe as Anna Stravinska. Quimper's scheme grew to killing Emma's brothers, so the inheritance need not be shared. He poisoned the cocktail jug, not the dinner, and added arsenic to the sample of curry he took before he gave it in for testing. He added a second dose of arsenic to Alfred's tea. He sent the poisoned tablets to Harold. Miss Marple then tells Mrs McGillicuddy and Inspector Craddock that Luther Crackenthorpe may die soon, that Emma will get over the doctor, and that there will be wedding bells for Lucy – though she refuses to be drawn on the identity of the groom. It is obvious to Miss Marple. 

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In a month with two full moons, Austrian petty criminal Johnny Pichler is hired to carry a bag of cash to the Slovakian border and deliver it to a gangster. Johnny arrives late in a battered taxi. He is forced into the car behind the gangster's beautiful but unhappy escort. Shirley, who is no bimbo, squirts the gangster with an incapacitating spray, kicks him out of the car and races away with Johnny and the cash. The pair makes a series of unsuccessful attempts to sell the obviously stolen car. In a Slovak hotel Johnny offers to buy Shirley's share of the car with his share of the cash. She refuses but when he returns from the bar, she is gone. Lonely Johnny teams up with Ignaz Springer, an East German con man who is having trouble adapting to post-Communist Europe, but claims to have business interests in Ukraine: shoe import-export. Springer introduces Johnny to a couple of Slovak waitresses and then disappears after selling the car without Johnny's knowledge. Johnny hitchhikes to Ukraine looking for Shirley with only the town Lviv stamped on a strip of photographs as a guide. In Lviv he meets a taxi driver who differs from Shirley only in her hair colour. Jana reveals that she is Shirley's twin sister and they soon become lovers. Jana tells him that Shirley's real name is Dana and that she had left Lviv some months ago after a bout of craziness. Johnny soon discovers that Jana is not being entirely honest with him. And the city is hardly welcoming: a gang force him to buy an ordinary brick from them with all the money that he has. He follows Jana to Kiev and finally to Odessa on the Black Sea, where he is also reunited with Springer. The movie ends on a ferry as the blue moon rises and the final scene explains the enigmatic opening scene on the Odessa Steps (made famous by The Battleship Potemkin). Dusl sees the love that develops between Johnny and Jana as a metaphor for the relationship between the east and the west. More inspiration for the film may have come from a transatlantic romantic entanglement with an American whom she visited before going into production.Chiari, Valeria. 'Interview with Andrea Maria Dusl', Cineuropa (October 14, 2002). Retrieved July 23, 2005. 

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The charismatic criminal Dobermann (Vincent Cassel), who got his first gun when he was christened, leads a gang of brutal robbers with his beautiful, deaf girlfriend Nat the Gypsy (Monica Bellucci). After a complex and brutal bank robbery, they are being hunted by the Paris police. The hunt is led by the sadistic cop Christini (Tchéky Karyo), who only has one goal: to catch Dobermann at any cost. He manages to catch gang member Olivier, who is also a tranvestite named Sonia. Christini threatens to kill Olivier's baby if he does not help him to catch the gang. Olivier has no choice and visits a party in a disco where the other gang members celebrate their robbery. He informs Christini with an alarm transmitter that all gang members are here so the police start a raid. After a gun fight the police arrest several members of the gang but some manage to escape, including Dobermann, who flees into a hidden basement which also has monitoring screens to show what happens in the disco. As Christini kills Pitbull and abducts Nat with a car to rape her, Dobermann leaves his hiding place and follows him in a stolen ambulance. He overtakes Christini and manages to wrestle him down in the car. Dobermann grinds the head of Christini on the road while still driving the car at high speed as revenge for the killed friends. Christini is left heavily disfigured on the road, presumably dying. The surviving gang members are able to escape and bury Sonia (the personage), suggesting that her treason results in Olivier having to drop his transvestite role. As they leave the scene in their cabrio a police helicopter is shown following them, with their car in its sights. 

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A pathologist, Dr. Warren Chapin (Price), discovers that the tingling of the spine in states of extreme fear is due to the growth of a creature that every human being seems to have, called a "tingler", a parasite attached to the human spine. It curls up, feeds and grows stronger when its host is afraid, effectively crushing the person's spine if curled up long enough. The host can weaken the creature and stop its curling by screaming. Movie theater owner Oliver Higgins (Coolidge), who shows exclusively silent films, is an acquaintance of Dr. Chapin. Higgins's wife Martha (Evelyn), is deaf and mute, and therefore cannot scream. She dies of fright after weird, apparently supernatural events appear in her room. During her autopsy, Chapin removes a tingler from her spine. After they contain the tingler and return to Higgins' house, it is revealed that Higgins is the murderer; he frightened his wife to death knowing that she could not scream because she was mute. The centipede-like creature eventually breaks free from the container that held it and is released into Higgins' theater. The tingler latches onto a woman's leg, and she screams until it releases its grip. Chapin controls the situation by shutting off the lights and telling everyone in the theater to scream. When the tingler has left the showing room, they resume the movie and go to the projection room, where they find the tingler and capture it. Guessing that the only way to neutralize the tingler is to reinsert it inside Martha's body, Chapin does so. After he leaves, Higgins, who has admitted his guilt to Chapin, is alone in the room. As if by supernatural forces, the door slams shut and locks itself and the window closes, echoing what happened just before Martha was frightened to death. The tingler causes the body of Martha to rise from the bed, staring at her husband. Higgins is so terrified that he is unable to scream. The screen fades, and Dr. Chapin's voice says, "Ladies and gentlemen, just a word of warning. If any of you are not convinced that you have a tingler of your own, the next time you are frightened in the dark ... don't scream". 

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The story is the first-person narrative of a fictional character named Michel Renault, a Parisian civil servant who, after the death of his father and thanks to a hefty inheritance, engages in sexual tourism in Thailand, where he meets a travel agent named Valérie. Valerie and Renault begin an affair, and, after moving back to France, hatch a plan with Valerie's boss (who works in the travel industry in the Aurore group, an allusion to the real-life Accor group) to launch a new variety of package holiday called "friendly tourism", implicitly aimed at Europeans looking for a sexual experience whilst on vacation. Single men and women—and even couples—are to be targeted, and would vacation in specially designed "Aphrodite Clubs". Initially, the name "Venus clubs"—an allusion to the Villa Venus clubs dreamed of by Eric Veen in Vladimir Nabokov's classic Ada or Ardor—is suggested, but is rejected as being too explicit. It is decided that Thailand is the best location for the new clubs, with the advertising making it clear that Thai women would also be easily available. The tours are to be marketed predominantly to German consumers, as it is perceived that there will be less moral outrage in Germany than in France. Michel, Valerie and her boss Jean-Yves travel to Thailand on one of their company's tours incognito and enjoy an idyllic holiday. They decide that they will move to Thailand permanently, to perpetuate the bliss they experience there. However, towards the end of their holiday, Muslim extremists commit a terrorist act in which Valérie is killed. Michel is left bereft, and at the end of the novel he travels back to Thailand to die. At this point, the reader realizes that the novel is in fact his suicide note. 

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Prince Wolfram (Byron) is the betrothed of mad Queen Regina V of Kronberg (Owen). As punishment for partying with other women, he is sent on manoeuvres. He sees Kitty Kelly (Swanson) walking with other convent students and flirts with her. She is embarrassed when he makes a comment after seeing that her underwear is visible, so she takes it off and throws it at him, to the horror of the nuns, who punish her for her "indecency". Enthralled by her beauty, he kidnaps her that night from the convent, takes her to his room and professes his love for her. When the queen finds them together the next morning, she whips Kelly and throws her out of the castle. Regina then puts Wolfram in prison for not wanting to marry her. 

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Cheech and Chong are driving a limo through the desert. Chong, who has decided to stop doing drugs for a while, is talking about rock and roll, and Cheech is falling asleep, but Cheech is narrating over what's happening. He says that "things are tough all over" and that he's going to tell their story. It's an awful winter in Chicago, and Cheech and Chong are poor, struggling musicians working at a car wash owned by a pair of oil-rich Arabs, Mr. Slyman and Prince Habib. After messing up on the job, the 2 are forced by the Arabs to work and play music at their club. Cheech and Chong also try to get with the Arabs' French girlfriends, who are more in love with the stoners. The Arabs find themselves with a large sum of illegal money, which they try to get to their other business in Las Vegas. They decide to stash all the money in the seats of a limousine. The Arabs hire the stoners to drive the limousine to Las Vegas, telling them that they're sending them on a "rock tour." Cheech and Chong at first get gas in Chicago, but when they reveal they're strapped for cash, the man at the gas station takes a piece of the car as payment. With that idea, Cheech and Chong find themselves driving across the country, selling parts and pieces of the car for gas, food, and supplies. Soon, their car becomes a wreck and looks messed up, but Cheech and Chong continue to sell parts to get by. While out in the middle of the deserts, they decide to pick up a hitchhiker, who turns out to be none other than Donna, Cheech's girlfriend. The two decide to take Donna in their messed-up limo to the nearest gas station. However, Donna is traveling with dozens of Mexicans, so the stoners end up driving all the Mexicans and Donna to the nearest gas station. To pay for gas, Cheech and Chong give the old man that runs the place a chair from the limo—which unknown to them is stuffed with the Arab's money. Cheech and Chong deliver the messed-up limousine to the Arabs' other oil plant in the desert, to find no one there. With no other transportation or money, Cheech and Chong set out on foot into the desert. They wander into the burning deserts, suffering the Nevada heat, and trying to get cars to stop- they remain unsuccessful. Eating peyote to survive and singing to pass the time, Cheech and Chong do their best to get through the desert, though they believe they'll die from the heat. Back in Chicago, the Arabs find out that Cheech and Chong have delivered what remains of the car without any money in it. After deciding to kill them, the Arabs fly out to Nevada in their private plane and set out by car into the desert. The Arabs meet the old man at the gas station and learn that Cheech and Chong have been around, and set out into the deserts; their car breaks down, leaving the Arabs to wander through the Nevada deserts and get lost. Meanwhile, while walking through the desert, Cheech and Chong are picked up by the Arab's French girlfriends, who take them to an abandoned motel in the middle of the desert. The French girlfriends have sex with the stoners, and are (unknown to them) on a hidden camera film. Afterwards, the French ladies leave in their car, leaving the stoners stranded in the middle of nowhere yet again. Meanwhile, the Arabs are having the same problem, looking for Cheech and Chong in the middle of the desert, having no idea where to go. Cheech and Chong wander through the desert again until they're picked up again, this time by comedian Rip Taylor, whose puns and props make Chong cry. The comedian drives the two into Las Vegas and drops them off at a restaurant, and has them dressed up as women to cover up their rags. Cheech and Chong start to dine at the restaurant, before the Arabs show up for dinner as well, having escaped the desert. Before they can eat, all the peyote Chong consumed begins to mess with his mind. Chong becomes emotional and confused, and when the Arabs begin to notice, the stoners try to escape. However, their wigs fall off, and the Arabs realize it's Cheech and Chong. The Arabs chase the stoners out of the restaurant and through the streets of Vegas. Cheech and Chong run into a women's-only porno theater with the murder- happy Arabs on their tail. In the theater, the Arabs see the showing of the hidden camera film of the stoners having sex with the Arabs' girlfriends. While the Arabs watch, inspired, Cheech and Chong escape. The stoners ditch the women's clothes and set out on foot to leave Las Vegas. The next day, as Cheech and Chong walk out of the city, a car pulls up, and Cheech and Chong get in, to find the Arabs and their French girlfriends. At first, Cheech and Chong are terrified and try to escape, but Mr. Slyman reveals that, instead of killing them, the Arabs have decided to cast the duo in porn films and launder the money through the enterprise. A happy ending, with a narrating Cheech reminding us that "hey, things are tough all over." 

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The series follows seven young female ponies who live in Ponyland, a society of anthropomorphic ponies. The girl ponies are Starlight, Sweetheart, Melody, Bright Eyes, Patch, Clover and Bon Bon. They live like humans as they attend school, frequent the local ice cream shop, enter talent contests, and even roller skate. This is in contrast to the previous series which involved ponies and humans. Some of the girl ponies begin to show a romantic interest in the male ponies, Teddy, Ace and Lancer; they even go on dates with them. At least one song is performed by the ponies in every episode. 

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The game starts with Urban Protection Agency agents Carter, Andre, Minoko and Amber heading below city limits to find two technicians missing from the Real Meat Company (a corporation that ironically produces synthetic meat). The suspicions of the team revolve around a local and dangerous gang named The Death Heads. The UPA team tracks the gang down to their base in St. Lucia's Church; but on their way, the gang members and many animals also start mutating into strange creatures. Clearing their way through the Church, battling the mutants, the UPA Team finally get close to the technicians, only to see them being taken far below city limits, possibly to ground zero (the term used for the ground level of the earth itself). The UPA Control instructs the UPA Team to recover a creature, a live one, for analysis; which shows that it has been a regular dog which had been tampered with using an old Gene splicer (this hints at the fact that genetic technology has advanced greatly). The analysis also reveals that the creatures they have been attacked by are being controlled by a signal; which is their next job, to both find and if possible, recover the technicians, and locate the source of the signal. On their way the UPA Team encounter little girls who are blonde, wear a red dress and call themselves Lucy. After some talk they mutate into dangerous beasts. Minoko, while going to another sector of the city by a high-speed railcar, mentions that she once had a sister named Lucy, but that Lucy had died due to a genetic illness she and their mother suffered from. As they continue, the team starts to question if Minoko's family was involved in their situation. The train crashes before reaching its destination, and leaves Minoko trapped in by a group of cannibals. Upon their arrival, Carter asks Control to check out Minoko's father, Dr. Joseph Molenski, who was once a skilled technician and a biological engineer, and who was sacked from Real Meat for stealing machinery for his own research. As a fugitive, Molenski was never acquired by UPA, nor was Lucy. Minoko was taken to the UPA Recreation Program, and thus became a UPA Agent. After traversing a former zoo that is now inhabited by cannibals and mutants, the team arrive at Ground Zero, the nominal ground level of the city. The team continues to levels below sea level. During their investigation, they stumble upon a video of Dr. Molenski, saying that he has found a nuclear bunker underneath, and has also rigged up a basic gene splicer. He also mentions that using it, he hopes to cure Lucy. The UPA Team enter the Eden Bunker, and upon their entrance, they discover that Dr. Molenski was trapped in a time dilation field, a field that which stops time around a given area, or slows it down immensely; similar to the effect of the team's Timeshock weapon. Molenski appears to be reaching out towards a computer. After deactivating the time dilation field, Minoko is kidnapped. Lucy tells Minoko that she has been creating the creatures, and the girls that mutated (in attempt to find a new body for herself) were her failures due to the different DNA of those girl victims that were too much to deal with. Since Minoko is her biological sister, Lucy wishes to take her body. Meanwhile, Molenski is told that fifteen years have passed, and asked what has happened. The answer is simple; in order to keep Lucy alive, Molenski had linked her mind to the computers, running half of her brain with them, while keeping her body in a time dilation field. However, since the computers were networked, Lucy took them over and tried to solve things her way. The other three UPA Team members rescue Minoko, and they deactivate Lucy's time dilation field causing her death. Molenski removes the computer connected to Lucy's head and inserts it into a robot body he has built for her to try to keep her brain alive. Mission accomplished, the UPA Team returns to the surface. 

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The game is set in San Francisco where the player assumes the role of Eric Fox (Kevin Breznahan), a psychic who earns his living doing a magic act in a seedy nightclub. One night, he is approached by the exotic Laina Pozok (Beata Pozniak), who senses that Eric is more powerful than he imagines. She trains Eric to "hitch hike" into people's minds. He sees what his subject sees, and hears what his subject hears; meanwhile, his body continues to interact with the world around him in an "automatic pilot-like" state. Laina hires Eric to attend a wake being held in honor of her father, who has died under mysterious circumstances. The game begins when Eric enters the Pozok household, and is given the choice to remain in his body, or hitch hike aboard any one of a number of characters he encounters. Eric also has the ability to pick up objects and take a psychic reading of them, providing more clues to help solve the Pozok murder case. Before long, Eric is embroiled in a conspiracy involving a powerful religious cult, spies, and family intrigue, and he also has to deal with his growing romantic attachment to Laina. Occasionally throughout the game, Eric obtains access to "psychic collectors" which amplify his abilities and allow him to affect the moods and attitudes of the people around him, but at a cost. 

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Young David Balfour arrives at a bleak Scottish house, the House of Shaws, to claim his inheritance. The house and land have been under the custodianship of his father's brother, Ebeneezer Balfour, but on reaching adulthood, the land and property become David's. Ebeneezer is having none of it, however, so he first tries to murder him, then has him kidnapped by sea captain Hoseason, with whom he has "a venture for trade in the West Indies". David is shipped off to be sold as a slave in the Carolinas. He strikes up a friendship with Alan Breck, escaping from Prince Charles Edward Stuart's defeat at Culloden. Breck is in a cobble which is run down in the fog by Hoseason's ship and once aboard, asks Hoseason to take him to France. When Hoseason refuses, Breck offers him 60 guineas to put him down on Loch Linnhe. On discovering that Breck has a money belt full of Jacobite gold, Hoseason and his crew try to kill Breck, but he is forewarned by David and the two kill half a dozen of the crew before the others retreat. Hoseason offers terms to end the fighting, but the ship runs aground. Only Breck and Balfour appear to survive and they manage to get to land. They set out for Edinburgh, dodging the ruthless Redcoats. Numerous adventures follow as they meet up with Breck's family, friends and foes alike. These include Breck's cousin, James Stewart, and his daughter Catriona, with whom David falls in love. 

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Two months ago, three monks, speaking Czech, rushed to perform a ritual while a powerful force of some sort threatened their lives. In the present, Buffy stakes a vampire outside an abandoned building, and then gets caught by the night watchman, who thinks she's a teen looking for a rave. As she turns to leave, he tells her not to forget her glow-ball, an effulgent orb which Buffy doesn't recognize but takes to investigate. Buffy makes breakfast for her mom, who is still suffering from headaches that the doctors can't explain. Dawn takes credit for the breakfast, telling Joyce that Buffy only helped. Joyce and Dawn bond (Joyce calling Dawn "my little pumpkin belly"), which leaves Buffy feeling like an outsider. Giles' big opening at The Magic Box is less than successful at first, but eventually, the magic shop gets to be so popular that he can't handle it all on his own. Buffy presents the orb to Giles, but Giles can't explain it right away, though he recognizes it as paranormal in origin because "it's so shiny." While picking up a prescription for her mother at the hospital, Buffy encounters the night watchman again as he's being strapped down to a gurney. He's less than stable, but he manages to warn Buffy that she will be attacked through her family. A monk works on a blueprint in an empty building just as The Beast smashes through a large steel door, revealing itself to be a supernatural blond female. The Beast ties him up and tortures him for information about "the Key," but he won't tell her anything. She starts to speak crazily until she puts her fingers to the head of a security guard and seems to suck the life force from him. Buffy assumes that the danger she was warned about is what is causing her mother's headaches. Anya recommends to Buffy that she perform a spell to reveal any spells that may be affecting her family. Buffy doesn't want Riley to feel unwanted, so she offers to let him help her with the spell. He realizes what she's doing, then they talk and agree to take care of each other. Buffy performs the ritual in her bedroom then walks around her house to look for anything unusual. Nothing appears weird about her mother, but Buffy sees Dawn's image flashing in and out of pictures around the house. When she enters Dawn's room, Buffy sees Dawn's possessions, bed, desk, and decorations also fading in and out, as well as Dawn herself. Buffy confronts Dawn about it, and she concludes that Dawn isn't her sister. Buffy physically assaults and threatens Dawn, telling her to stay away from their mother, but Buffy's supposed little sister appears truly confused and doesn't understand Buffy's sudden change in attitude. Giles calls to tell Buffy about the orb, a Dagon Sphere, and its purpose of protection from an unnamed evil. Buffy returns to the abandoned building in hopes of finding more information. Buffy encounters Spike lurking outside her home and demands to know what he was doing there. Spike gives a rather poor and unsatisfying explanation ("Out for a walk... bitch"), though Buffy nonetheless decides to let him off with a warning, to which Spike gets frustrated and launches a bizarre rant against her before departing, leaving Buffy puzzled. Looking down, Buffy notes a small pile of Spike's discarded cigarette butts; he must have been loitering there for several hours. Shaking her head, she proceeds to return to the warehouse as Dawn watches the whole exchange from the window. Buffy comes up against the Beast, who quickly proves to be too strong for Buffy to handle. After taking quite a beating, Buffy is able to escape with the monk. The Beast throws a tantrum, causing the room to collapse on her, which delays her pursuit. Back at The Magic Box, Giles offers Anya a job when he realizes that the job is too much for just one, and that she enjoys handling the money. In his last moments of life, the monk warns Buffy that she must protect the key. He tells her that the key is a collection of energy put into a human form, Dawn's form. They sent her to the Slayer to be protected from those looking for it. Before he dies, he tells her that her memories of Dawn were constructed, and that Dawn is now an innocent human who not only needs the protection of the Slayer, but also the love of a sister. When Buffy returns home, she apologizes to Dawn, and the two girls are able to relate on at least one subject - their concern for their mother. 

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Willet Gashade (Oates), a former bounty hunter, returns to his small mining camp after a lengthy absence and finds his slow-witted friend Coley (Hutchins) in a state of fear. Coley explains to Gashade that their partner, Leland Drum (B. J. Merholz), had been shot to death two days before by an unseen assassin. The killing was possibly committed in revenge for the accidental trampling death of "a little person" in town, which may have been caused by Gashade's brother, Coigne. Coigne had inexplicably rushed away from their camp moments before the shooting death. Coley becomes increasingly paranoid, and Gashade takes his friend's gun away from him. The following day, a young woman (Perkins) shoots her horse to death immediately outside of the camp. The sound of the gunshot temporarily sends the frightened Coley into hiding. Gashade examines the dead horse and notes that it appeared to be perfectly healthy, though the woman had said its leg was broken. The woman offers Gashade a thousand dollars to lead her to a place called Kingsley. Although openly distrustful of her, he grudgingly accepts the offer. Coley, apparently smitten by the woman, accompanies them. The young woman is rude and insulting to both Gashade and Coley. She refuses to tell them her name. The three stop briefly in Crosstree. Gashade learns that Coigne was seen there only a day or two before. As they continue traveling slowly through the hot desert, Gashade observes that they are being followed by a stranger dressed in black. He is Billy Spear (Nicholson), who continues to keep his distance from them. Gashade sees that the woman appears to be signaling to the man. Coley makes attempts to talk to the woman, but she continually taunts and insults him. She also repeatedly refuses to answer any of Gashade's questions regarding the purpose of their journey. At night, Spear suddenly walks into their camp and joins them. Hired by the woman as a gunslinger for reasons unknown, Spear is suspicious and hostile toward Gashade and contemptuous of Coley. He repeatedly threatens both of their lives. Gashade advises Coley to keep away from Spear. The woman rides her horse hard. When it dies of exhaustion, Coley gives his horse to the woman and Gashade allows Coley to ride with him. Later, the woman loses the trail and asks Gashade to lead on. Gashade's horse shows signs of fatigue, so Gashade tells Coley to join the woman on her horse, but Spear forbids him from doing so. The woman says that the journey would be much easier without Coley. Spear and she demand that he be left behind. Gashade, under threat by Spear, reluctantly agrees and tells Coley he will come back for him soon. The three see a bearded man (Charles Eastman) sitting in the middle of the desert nursing a broken leg. The man tells the woman that the person she is seeking is only one day's ride away. She leaves him a canteen of water. Meanwhile, the bearded man's lost horse is found by Coley. He mounts the horse and rides back to the group. He charges at Spear, who shoots him dead. Gashade buries his friend in the sand. All of the horses die. The group runs out of water, but they still keep moving. Gashade sees Spear growing weaker, and when the moment is right, attacks him. They fight, and after knocking Spear unconscious, Gashade grabs a large rock and crushes the killer's gun hand. Gashade walks after the woman, who is now closely following a man up the side of a rock formation. The man turns around and Gashade sees that the man is his look-alike brother, Coigne. Gashade attempts to tackle the woman as she pulls out a gun and takes aim at Coigne, but it is too late; Coigne and the woman shoot each other dead. Gashade, lying next to the woman's corpse, whispers, "Coigne". Spear stumbles aimlessly under the hot sun. 

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The Angels first take note of "Poet" (Jack Nicholson) after one of them inadvertently damages his motorcycle and breaks its headlight. Poet, with far more guts than brains, challenges the Angel that hit his motorcycle. This is an act that would traditionally result in every Angel present participating in a group beating of the attacker. "When a non- Angel hits an Angel, all Angels retaliate." But the leader of the Angels, Buddy (Adam Roarke), intervenes and tells Poet that the Angels will replace the headlight. In the meantime, he's welcome to ride with them while they take care of business—which turns out to be going to a bar and beating up the members of another club who previously beat an Angel. Poet is told to wait outside, but ends up helping the Angels. Later that night, the Angels return the favor by hunting down and beating four sailors who beat Poet four-against- one after he parted company with the group. Poet accidentally bumps into one of the sailors and speaks rudely to him before he realizes that the sailor has three other sailors with him. The four sailors then refuse to accept his apology—but the Angels only know that four sailors beat up Poet, and he doesn't tell them how the earlier fight started. One of the sailors pulls a knife on the Angels and is then killed accidentally in the fight that follows. Poet is allowed to ride with the Angels and is eventually elevated to "prospect" status. He is attracted to Buddy's some-time girlfriend (Sabrina Scharf) who toys with him while remaining hopelessly committed to Buddy. Much of the story that follows consists of scenes of the Angels partying or being provoked to violence by "squares." Although the Angels are shown as being loud and generally irreverent, they are never shown starting trouble except when taking revenge on members of other motorcycle clubs, except when they run an older man in a car off the road, to his death; when they run two cops off the road when freeing their friend, arrested for that death; or when they insist on entering a bar where they are not welcome, thereby instigating a fight with locals. Eventually, Buddy's girlfriend succeeds in provoking a confrontation between Buddy and Poet, with only one of the men surviving. 

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Paul Collier searches for Karen, his girl friend who is going to have his child but ran away from him instead of marrying him. As the two attempt to reconcile a small motorcycle gang called the Rebel Rousers comes into the town. Their leader, J.J. Weston went to school and played football with Paul, but rather than catch up with each other, Paul goes to search for Karen and J.J. goes with his gang. The gang's exuberant behaviour in a local diner causes the sheriff to run them out of town. Outside of the town, Paul and Karen are captured by the gang with Paul beaten up and the gang vying for who will be the first to have their way with Karen. Though J.J. tries to help the couple the gang pull a pistol on him. J.J. seeks to delay Karen's fate by holding a motorcycle drag race to determine who will "win" Paul's pregnant girlfriend. Paul makes his way to the town where the sheriff is away taking a prisoner to another town to serve his sentence. No one in town will help Paul free his girlfriend until he comes across a group of Mexicans who confront the Rebel Rousers. 

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Nicky Wilson (Beatty) and Oscar Sullivan (Nicholson) are inept 1920s scam artists in Northeastern United States who see pay dirt in the guise of Fredericka Quintessa "Freddie" Bigard (Stockard Channing), the millionaire heiress to a sanitary napkin fortune. She loves the already married Nicky, but because the Mann Act prohibits him from taking her across state lines and engaging in immoral relations, he proposes that she marry Oscar and then carry on an affair with the man she wants. Oscar, who is wanted for embezzlement and anxious to get out of town, is happy to comply with the plan, although he intends to claim his spousal privileges after they are wed. Once they reach Los Angeles, the men try everything they can to separate Freddie from her inheritance without success, but with sufficient determination to arouse her suspicions. When she announces her plan to donate her money to charity, Nicky and Oscar conclude that murder might be their only recourse if they're going to get rich quick. Eventually arrested for the murder, Nicky and Oscar confess everything to the Los Angeles Police Department. This leads to unusual complications when the arresting detective meets the very-alive Freddie, who passed out and was oblivious to the entire "murder", and is shocked to hear the story. 

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Randy O'Brien first encounters David Landers when he is wheeled into the hospital in incredible pain. Landers rages until two dark arms spring from O'Brien's torso that restrain him long enough for O'Brien to give Landers a tranquilizer that renders him unconscious. The two compare their experiences, and O'Brien reads a classified ad for the Clinic for Paranormal Research, a facility designed to help individuals who have acquired strange abilities. He relays the information to Landers and they travel to the Clinic under assumed names. They are at first convinced of the Clinic staff's sincerity and are enrolled into Therapy Group C, where they meet Walters, Beck, Cuzinski, Harrington, and Fenzl. Late one night, O'Brien's antibody intrudes on the Clinic staff, at least four of whom are paranormals themselves, and learn the Clinic has plans to make an army out of them, to be led by Philip Nolan Voigt, the Clinic director.D.P. 7 #1 (November 1986) Therapy Group C fights off the Clinic staff and the paranormal Hackbarth, who can manipulate others' nervous systems. They escape into the night and over the next few months, the paranormals adjust to life with their powers. They are eventually apprehended by bounty hunters and returned to the Clinic.D.P. 7 #7-11 O'Brien and Landers, the last two to arrive, find that their friends have been behavior-modified to not remember their escape or the Clinic's ulterior motives. O'Brien and Landers defeat Voigt and he disappears from the Clinic.D.P. 7 #12 (October 1987) although he later reappears to successfully run for President of the United States in 1988. Without Voigt and his senior staff (Hackbarth is in a coma, memory manipulator Charne was choked to death by an Antibody, and telepathic Speck was shot)D.P. 7 #13 (November 1987) to surreptitiously maintain order, paranormals at the Clinic soon form their own special interest groups/gangs (one is composed of teenagers, one of African Americans, etc.).D.P. 7 #14-16 The potential for disaster is soon fulfilled, and law enforcement comes in to shut the Clinic down, killing many of the patients in the process.D.P. 7 #21 (July 1988) By this time, most of the reformed Therapy Group C (along with a few other residents of the Clinic) left to find Walters, who had run to Pittsburgh where his family had been caught in a major disaster.D.P. 7 #18 (April 1988) Except for Scuzz, the Displaced Paranormals begin to work with the government after all male paranormals are drafted into the United States Army after the destruction of Pittsburgh, believed to be caused by a nuclear weapon. Female paranormals become highly sought-after assets for other agencies like the CIA. With the exception of Walters, who continues in the Army, the other paranormals either go AWOL or leave the CIA and many of them move into New York City trying to live normal lives, in the face of the public leeriness of paranormals. While in the city, some ongoing romances play out, while other paranormals decide to become part of a superhero team. When the war is over, the paranormals (who had not been cured) return to lives that are as normal as they can be. 

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Immigration enforcement agent Charlie Smith lives in California with his wife, Marcy, in a trailer. She persuades him to move to a duplex in El Paso shared by her friend and border agent Cat. She opens a charge account and starts to purchase expensive items like a water bed as she tries to build a dream home. Cat gradually introduces Charlie to the human smuggling operation he runs with their supervisor Red. Though Charlie initially declines to participate, his wife's free-spending ways make him finally take part in the operation. Meanwhile, a young Mexican mother, Maria, that he has observed is detained, and while she is in their custody, one of Cat's drivers abducts her baby for an illegal adoption. Cat warns the driver not to do anything but transport people in trucks, and that if he runs drugs or babies, Cat will hurt him. Charlie finally realizes that Cat and Red are killing drivers who make money off side ventures or anyone who gets in their way. Charlie makes it clear to Cat that he will not be a party to murder. In the film's climax, he is forced to kill Cat. He tracks down the kidnapped infant and returns it to Maria. 

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In 1957, the Dollanganger family lives an idyllic life in Gladstone, Pennsylvania until Mr. Dollanganger dies in a car accident, leaving his wife Corinne deep in debt with four children and no professional skills. The family is forced to move in with Corinne's wealthy parents, from whom she is estranged. Upon arrival at Corinne's ancestral home, Foxworth Hall, the family is greeted coldly by Corinne's mother Olivia, who sneaks them into a small bedroom connected to the attic. The children are told they must remain hidden from their grandfather, Malcolm, and can never leave this room. The older children, Cathy and Chris, attempt to make the best of the situation for their younger siblings, twins Carrie and Cory, by turning the attic into an imaginary garden. They are dismayed when Corinne returns after meeting with her parents and they see she has been savagely whipped. Corinne confesses that the children's dead father was her father's half-brother, and this incest is the cause of her and her parents' estrangement. Corinne plans to win back her father's love, and hopes to introduce the children once this has been accomplished. At first, Corinne visits her children daily, sometimes bringing expensive gifts. Meanwhile, Olivia emotionally and physically abuses the children, constantly threatening to whip them for any acts she considers "sinful". At Christmastime, Corinne allows Cathy and Chris to watch guests at Foxworth Hall from a hiding spot, where they see their grandfather for the first time and also see their mother with Bart Winslow, Malcolm's attorney. Their mother's visits then become less frequent as her emotional bond with the children weakens, to the point where she eventually slaps Chris and threatens to whip him. A year later, Cathy and Chris have both entered puberty and become surrogate parents for Carrie and Cory, who no longer recognize Corinne when she occasionally appears. While Cathy and Chris are both entering adulthood, the twins' physical growth is stunted from a lack of adequate nutrition, sunlight and fresh air. Despite personal shame, Cathy and Chris develop a physical attraction toward each other. Olivia catches Chris staring at a half-dressed Cathy and orders him to cut off Cathy's hair. Chris refuses, and Olivia abandons them for three weeks, driving them to near-starvation. When Cathy cuts her own hair, meals resume and now include sugared doughnuts as a surprise. Corinne visits the children for the first time in six months, explaining that she had been on a honeymoon with Bart in Europe. Cathy and Chris react angrily, but when Corinne threatens to never visit again, they pretend to be happy for her. Realizing that they cannot rely on their mother any longer, Chris and Cathy come up with an escape plan, sneaking into the house to steal money and valuables from their mother's room. One night, Cathy discovers her sleeping stepfather and kisses him. When Chris learns of the act, he is enraged and rapes Cathy. Afterwards, he is overcome with remorse, and Cathy forgives him by saying she wanted it too. Cory becomes very sick and Corinne agrees to take him to the hospital, though only after Cathy tells her that if Cory dies, she will find a way to make Corinne pay for it. The next day, Corinne returns and tells the children that Cory died, allegedly from pneumonia. Without warning, their mother and Bart move out. Eavesdropping on the servants, Chris learns that Malcolm died months ago and Olivia is now leaving out doughnuts sprinkled with rat poison in an attempt to clear the attic's "mouse" infestation. The three remaining children finally flee, catching a train to Florida. At the train station, Chris reveals he discovered Corinne's inheritance is conditional on her having no descendants from her first marriage, and she was poisoning them to secure her father's wealth. Chris and Cathy decide against contacting the police as their main concern is to stay together and protect Carrie, who is still a minor. Chris assures Cathy that they can make a new life without their mother, but Cathy swears to exact revenge one day. 

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The story concerns the love and marriage of a young girl, Mashechka (17 years old), and the much older Sergey Mikhaylych (36), an old family friend. The story is narrated by Masha. After a courtship that has the trappings of a mere family friendship, Masha's love grows and expands until she can no longer contain it. She reveals it to Sergey Mikhaylych and discovers that he also is deeply in love. If he has resisted her it was because of his fear that the age difference between them would lead the very young Masha to tire of him. He likes to be still and quiet, he tells her, while she will want to explore and discover more and more about life. Ecstatically and passionately happy, the pair immediately engages to be married. Once married they move to Mikhaylych's home. They are both members of the landed Russian upper class. Masha soon feels impatient with the quiet order of life on the estate, notwithstanding the powerful understanding and love that remains between the two. To assuage her anxiety, they decide to spend a few weeks in St. Petersburg. Sergey Mikhaylych agrees to take Masha to an aristocratic ball. He hates "society" but she is enchanted with it. They go again, and then again. She becomes a regular, the darling of the countesses and princes, with her rural charm and her beauty. Sergey Mikhaylych, at first very pleased with Petersburg society's enthusiasm for his wife, frowns on her passion for "society"; but he does not try to influence Masha. Out of respect for her, Sergey Mikhaylych will scrupulously allow his young wife to discover the truth about the emptiness and ugliness of "society" on her own. But his trust in her is damaged as he watches how dazzled she is by this world. Finally they confront each other about their differences. They argue but do not treat their conflict as something that can be resolved through negotiation. Both are shocked and mortified that their intense love has suddenly been called into question. Something has changed. Because of pride, they both refuse to talk about it. The trust and the closeness are gone. Only courteous friendship remains. Masha yearns to return to the passionate closeness they had known before Petersburg. They go back to the country. Though she gives birth to children and the couple has a good life, she despairs. They can barely be together by themselves. Finally she asks him to explain why he did not try to guide and direct her away from the balls and the parties in Petersburg. Why did they lose their intense love? Why don't they try to bring it back? His answer is not the answer she wants to hear, but it settles her down and prepares her for a long life of comfortable "Family Happiness". 

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In July 1947, an alien spacecraft crashed near Roswell, New Mexico in the United States. The craft was recovered by the U.S. Air Force and taken to Area 51 in Nevada, where the lone survivor of the crash, a powerful Grey named Edgar (Marilyn Manson), was held captive by the U.S. military. Eventually, the Greys opened a dialogue with the Illuminati led by the ominous Mr. White (Phil Proctor), and struck a deal with them. The Illuminati would give the Greys a research base 3 miles below the surface of Area 51, the use of the base as a landing site, and give them human test subjects where they, along with human scientists, would research a mutagenic virus to use in a war on their homeworld. In return the Greys would give the Illuminati exclusive access to Grey technology. The Illuminati used some of this technology to spy on the population. The Greys and the human scientists eventually developed a powerful alien being - known as the "Theta", which spread the virus. Unbeknownst to many of the scientists working on the project, the Greys and the Illuminati were also planning to use the virus against the Earth population and dominate the planet. When Dr. Winston Cray (Ian Abercrombie) found out about the plan, he let loose the "Theta" and the mutagenic virus throughout Area 51, in an effort to slow them down. This prompted the military to send in a Quick Reaction Force led by Major Bridges (Powers Boothe) to quarantine and contain the virus. HAZMAT Team Delta, the first team initially sent into Area 51 are ambushed by the "Theta" creature, sustaining casualties, before withdrawing deeper into the base. HAZMAT Team Bravo, composed of team leader Ramirez, McCan, Crispy, and mission specialist Ethan Cole (David Duchovny) is sent to find Delta. After initially encountering the mutants, McCan is killed when a mutant decapitates him. Deeper into the base, Crispy and Ramirez are both ambushed by the Theta and killed, leaving Cole on his own. Cole manages to locate the rest of Delta, however they are attacked again by the Theta, and all but Cole and Lieutenant Chew are killed. Making their way topside, the Illuminati disables the cargo elevator, killing Chew and leaving Cole bitten by one mutant, partially mutating him. Able to switch between human and mutant form, Cole is guided deeper into the base by Edgar reanimating corpses to deliver information telepathically. Cole is guided to Dr. Cray's bio labs, where Cray claims there is time to decontaminate Cole, and rid him of the virus. Before he can be cured, the Illuminati attack, killing Cray and stopping the process. Cole proceeds deeper underground into a cave system, where he eventually gets reacquainted with the Theta. He manages to kill the creature, avenging both his team and HazTeam Delta. He meets Edgar miles beneath the surface who reveals the scientists used his DNA to create the virus, and the nature of the experiments at the base, which killed dozens of his species to harvest it. He then tells Cole the history of the Greys and Area 51. Edgar gives Cole the cure to the mutagenic virus, and instructs him to destroy the Grey's ship, that is leaving with dozens of Theta duplicates. Cole locates the vessel and destroys it by overloading its reactor, and uses a teleporter to escape into the Nevada desert. He lands by the "White Mailbox" area and watches Area 51 being destroyed by the exploding ship in a tornado like explosion. Cole watches as a truck drives past, with a green, alien-like container on board with unknown contents inside and walks away from the site. He reflects upon his original purpose at Area 51 and recognizes that while he and Hazmat Team Bravo had failed, their sacrifices may have saved mankind. 

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Don DeFore and Lizabeth Scott Jane and Alan Palmer are driving to a party in the Hollywood Hills when someone in another car throws a Gladstone bag into the back seat of their convertible. They open it and discover bundles of cash. With Jane at the wheel, they are chased by another car driven, Alan deduces, by the person who was supposed to receive the money. Jane drives recklessly, making a high speed turn and zig-zagging on the difficult road. They manage to lose their pursuer and Alan takes over. As they drive back into town, they discuss what to do about the money. Jane wants to keep it but Alan feels it is probably a blackmail payoff and the police should have it. He has a chance to hand it over, but does not, when an officer stops him for failing to use his turn signal. Back at their Hollywood apartment, they examine what Alan estimates to be $100,000 in cash. Jane eventually convinces her husband that they should hide the cash for a week; she claims to be fine with whatever he decides to do. They stash the satchel at the baggage claim at Union Station, the claim ticket seemingly ends up in the lining of Alan's coat. The next day, while Alan is at work and as Jane is hiding packages containing things she has purchased with the money in mind, Danny shows up. He claims to be a detective and says he needs to look around the place. He does not say why and he has no warrant, but says he can get one if that is what she prefers. She allows him to go ahead. He discovers the packages, one containing a fur coat, and says, "So you've already started spending it, huh?". Clearly not a detective but actually the man for whom the money was intended, Danny slaps Jane around a bit and demands to know where the money is. She lies, telling him that she and Alan have surrendered it to the police. He promises to return if there is no news in the evening paper about money being handed over to the cops. Alan returns home and tells her their banker phoned to let him know that their account is several hundred dollars down. She responds that she has only been buying things she needed. Alan threatens to send the claim ticket to the District Attorney's office right away; Jane threatens to take the money and run off. During their argument, he brings up her previous marriage to a man named Blanchard, who apparently died by suicide, and immediately is sorry. Jane feels she was always meant to have money, that she married Blanchard because she thought he had a lot of it; Alan believes peace of mind is more important, that they will not have that with the money in their possession. Nevertheless, he agrees to hang on to it for the rest of the agreed-to week. He suggests that the next evening they go out together and enjoy themselves the way they used to. Danny returns the next day, letting himself into the apartment using a skeleton key. Jane tells him that Alan has the money and is planning to give it to the authorities. She explains how she does not intend to allow him to do that, that she is determined to keep it. She and Danny make a deal to split the money; he gives her a number where he can be reached. Later, when she has made up her mind about what to do, Jane phones Danny and tells him to wait that night at the palm tree at the west end of Westlake Park, near downtown Los Angeles. As part of their romantic evening, Alan and Jane rent a boat. Inside her purse, Jane has packed her husband's gun. While out on the water, she appears to feel a pang of guilt; she blurts out that she wants to give the money up, that she wants to send the claim ticket in right away. Alan tries to take his wife's mind off the topic. He wants a cigarette and picks up her purse to look for some; his gun falls out. A struggle ensues and Alan is shot dead. Jane takes control of the boat and, as per their arrangement, meets Danny. He sees the body and resists being involved in a murder, but Jane has the gun on him and promises to tell the police he killed her husband unless he helps her. After dumping the body in the lake, weighted by the boat's anchor, Jane and Danny leave the boat launch together - he has on Alan's coat and hat - so as to mislead witnesses into assuming she left with her husband. She extends the ruse by having Danny drive back to her apartment; she makes sure the parking garage attendant believes Alan is in the car. Having arranged to meet Danny later that night, to supposedly retrieve the money from its burial site, Jane first invites Alan's sister, Kathy - who lives across the hall - over for a nightcap. She tells Kathy that Alan has just gone out to pick up a bottle of liquor. As time goes on and Alan does not return, Jane begins to feign worry and fear. She phones the police to report him as a missing person. Kathy realizes that the couple has plenty of liquor in the apartment and questions why Alan would have gone to purchase more. Jane tries to tell her sister-in-law that their marriage is on the rocks. Kathy does not buy this and says she believes Alan will be home soon. When Kathy goes home, Jane picks up Danny and they drive up into the hills. Once up there, he figures that she plans to kill him. After a near-accident and she stops the car, Danny flees, after saying, "You didn't bury that dough, and I know it". He is still wearing the coat that has in its lining the claim ticket. Jane abandons the car. Later, she locates Danny's residence and goes there, asking for Alan's coat. Danny discovers a blank piece of paper in the lining and Jane realizes the ticket must be at home. Meanwhile, having used her personal key to the Palmer's apartment, Kathy is searching the place; she has her suspicions about Jane. She finds the claim ticket in a dresser drawer. As she opens the door to leave, she comes face-to-face with a man who introduces himself as Don Blake, an old Army Air Corps buddy of Alan's on vacation in Los Angeles. Kathy tells him that Alan is missing. Later, while Jane is looking around her apartment for the claim ticket, a police lieutenant comes to report that the Palmer vehicle was in a near-accident the previous night and that a man got out of the car and left the scene. The implication is that it was Alan and another woman. The vehicle has been located and the matter appears to be closed, but not for Kathy, who all but says that she has doubts about her sister-in-law. Don arrives and, in the course of their conversation, Jane quizzes him on his experience in England with Alan during the war; his answers are not convincing. After he leaves, Jane phones a man she knows for certain served with Alan and asks him to drop by. Danny makes another appearance; Jane tells him about Kathy and begs him to procure poison to kill her. Don and Kathy are drawn to each other. She wonders why he is so anxious to help find Alan and yet does not talk about him as if they really were friends in England. A drunken Danny returns with the poison and, after rambling for a few minutes, leaves. Don stops by Kathy's to ask her out for dinner. She shows him the claim ticket, asking him to take her to Union Station afterwards. Don is intrigued and suggests they go right away. Jane interrupts the couple as they are leaving and tells them a lie about a note from Alan she has found in the returned car. Alan, she says, is in Mexico and she is going there to find him. She asks them to come to her apartment, where the man who actually was an air corps comrade of Alan's is waiting. It is evident that Don has been lying. Jane holds a gun on him and retrieves the ticket; her sister-in-law runs back to her own apartment to call police, then subsequently finds Don unconscious in Jane's apartment. She notifies police to stake out Union Station. When Don wakes up, he confesses to Kathy that he does not know her brother, but he will explain further later. Jane manipulates a stranger into claiming the bag of cash, then goes to Danny's. He is hungover and leery of her. She asks him to help her run away but she needs to know where the money came from and if it is safe to spend. Danny says it was a "once in a lifetime" blackmail payoff from an insurance scam. She understands this means the money is unmarked and its disappearance won't be reported to the police. She kills Danny with a drink laced with the poison he had provided her. After finding Danny's body, the Los Angeles police tell Don that if he wants the small lake at Westlake Park dragged in search of Jane's missing husband, it'll cost thousands of dollars; besides, they don't believe his theories. Jane flees with the money to Mexico City, where she has a penthouse at the posh Reforma Hotel. Don turns up at her door. Concluding he is either after the money or with the police, Jane pleads with him to take half. Don tells her he is the brother of Jane's first husband, Bob Blanchard, that "this is a vendetta, but it's over now", that now that he knows her, he understands how she could have driven his brother to kill himself. As Mexican police detectives rush into the room, Jane holds them at bay with her gun; in tears, she backs away onto a balcony, where she trips. She falls over the railing, screaming, to her death. Don meets Kathy in the lobby and apologizes, saying, "Well, it was a short honeymoon, Kathy. We're going home now". 

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In 1876, Johnny Jameson (Dan Dailey), a "drummer" (traveling salesman), is the only passenger on the inaugural run of the Tomahawk and Western Railroad's narrow gauge train through the Colorado Rockies. The train is pulled by the Tomahawk and Western's only locomotive, a Baldwin Ten-Wheeler named Emma Sweeny. During the ride, the conductor tells Johnny that certain people, stagecoach operators for example, would like to see the railroad's franchise fail. Soon afterwards, Dakota (Rory Calhoun), Trancas and Gila, who work for Colonel Dawson, the area stageline operator, cause a giant boulder to fall directly in the path of the train. Engineer Terence Sweeny (Walter Brennan) manages to stop the train in time, and he and the crew then disembark to move the rock. Johnny decides to walk to the town of Epitaph and hitches a ride with Trancas and Gila. At the sheriff's office, when Johnny tries to report the train's delay to deputy Chuckity Jones (Charles Kemper), he is knocked out by Trancas. U.S. Marshal Dodge, meanwhile, is in the room next door getting ready to welcome the train with help from his tomboyish, knife- wielding granddaughter Kit (Anne Baxter). As they leave for the depot they are surprised by Trancas and Gila. The marshal shoots Trancas but is wounded by Gila. Johnny comes round and Kit suspects that he may also be one of the gang. Despite Chuckity intervening on his behalf she orders him to leave town before sunset. Kit is deputized as a U.S. Marshal by her grandfather, who now cannot travel because of his wound. She and an Indian companion named Pawnee (Chief Yowlachie) are assigned to escort the train to Tomahawk. Colonel Dawson orders Dakota to join the posse that is escorting the train and also an Indian scout, Black Wolf, to stir up the local Arapahos. Other gang members plot to blow up the engine during a night stop. Only after he has bought his ticket out of town does Sweeny learn that there is no track laid for the next forty miles. He is informed by local railway entrepreneur, Bishop, that the rails were lost at sea en route from England. Bishop explains that, as the train must reach Tomahawk to fulfill the requirements of the franchise contract, he has arranged for the Emma Sweeny to be hauled by a team of mules. Another condition is that the train must reach Tomahawk by a rapidly approaching deadline with at least one paying passenger. Kit is not pleased to discover that the passenger assigned to her care is Johnny, who is now reluctant to travel on the train. Johnny is roped to the side of the engine, and the locomotive, minus its passenger car, sets off pulled by the mules and accompanied by assorted wagons. Chinese laundry man Long Time (Victor Sen Yung) joins the group with much delayed laundry for Tomahawk, together with Madame Adelaide (Connie Gilchrist) and her dancing girls, Annie, Ruby, Clara (Marilyn Monroe) and Julie. A musician with pianola accompanies them. As planned, Dawson's men Bat, Charley and Fargo show up at a night stop claiming to be telegraph men who are there to repair lines cut by the Arapahos. Kit gives them permission to bunk in the camp. Johnny convinces Madame Adelaide and the dancers to put on a show in the camp, and later joins in the musical performance himself. Kit gradually softens her attitude towards Johnny. When all are asleep, Bat and Charley leave while Fargo tosses sticks of dynamite under the engine. Johnny, sleeping alongside the train, smells the lit fuse and alerts the others. Kit cuts the fuse with a shot and disables Fargo, but before he can talk, Dakota kills him. Some time later, a few miles beyond where the track restarts, Bat and Charley are placing dynamite charges under a trestle. Johnny, Kit and Pawnee are scouting ahead and stop at the bridge. Bat and Charley consider shooting them, but are then themselves attacked and killed by Indians, and the dynamite is set off prematurely. Kit, Johnny and Pawnee are chased back to the train, which is then attacked by the war party. Johnny identifies the Arapaho chief, Crooked Knife, having previously worked with him in a travelling western show. After the war party is driven off, Johnny volunteers to talk peace with him. He has learned that Long Time is carrying a load of fireworks and develops a plan. He is welcomed by Crooked Knife, who agrees to allow the train safe passage. However, some of the braves distrust Johnny and ask him to produce a sign that he is "big medicine." Johnny sets off a rocket, signaling Kit and Dakota to set off the rest of the fireworks on a nearby hill, and the Indians are impressed. As the railway bridge is now out, Kit intends to take the locomotive over a mountain by dismantling it and carrying it in pieces. Dawson, meanwhile, thinks he has been double-crossed and shoots Black Wolf. He then rounds up his men for a final showdown. The Emma Sweeny is stripped of her cab, smokestack, tender and various other parts, and hauled over the mountain by the mules in several pieces. When they reach the track, the engine is put back together. Kit discovers that the water tower needed to fill the tender has been sabotaged by Dakota, but unknown to Dakota, the tender was already filled with water. When Kit discovers that he sabotaged the tower, Dakota jumps aboard the train, slugs Johnny and forces the fireman to start the engine moving, leaving Kit and the rest of the party behind. Kit jumps into the cab. Dakota tries to shoot Kit, but is out of ammunition and throws his gun at her instead, knocking her unconscious. Johnny wakes up, and while he and Dakota fight on top of the cabin, Kit comes round and throws her knife at Dakota, causing him to fall off the train and plunge to his death in a ravine. Dawson and his gang ambush the train but cannot catch up with it. However, they manage to shoot holes the boiler. The Emma Sweeny loses steam pressure and slows to a halt within sight of Tomahawk. A posse, headed by Marshall Dodge, rides out from the town and, together with the Araphoe, subdue Dawson's gang. Dawson flees but is pursued by Pawnee, who takes him out by throwing a tomahawk at him. As the train has stopped just short of its goal, Johnny attempts to talk the mayor of Tomahawk into extending the town limits, thereby fulfilling the requirements of the franchise. He succeeds with seconds to spare. Kit has fallen in love with Johnny, but he says he cannot be with her, as he cannot give up his traveling life. She grabs her knife and threatens to cripple him to prevent him from traveling. Several years later, Johnny is married to Kit and working as the train conductor. As the train sets off, he limps after it, waving to Kit and their five young daughters, all named after Madame Adelaide's dancers. 

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The story revolves around 11-year-old Jessica Slocum (Juliet Sorci), whose mother died when she was three years old. Her father, Jim (Doug Sheehan), is a workaholic with little time for his daughter and hasn't been able to spend time with her since her mother's death 8 years prior and still seems to be mourning her. Just before the Christmas holiday season, Jessica wins a free wish from a wishing well. Her wish for a mother for Christmas is granted by Philomena (Doris Roberts) and Amy Miller (Olivia Newton-John), a department store mannequin, is brought to life to be a mom for Jessica. However, there is a catch and Amy can only be a mother to her until Christmas Eve. To clear up any confusion for Jim, Amy claims herself to be a nanny from Australia hired to help care for Jessica while he's at work and she is given a spare room on top of the garage. Amy and Jessica get along until they suffer a brief misunderstanding. Jessica briefly wants to take back the wish and sees Amy go lifeless from her bedroom window. Horrified, she runs out in the rain and stairs to Amy's room, frantically knocking on her door. Amy opens up and Jessica is relieved to see her fine as she is ushered in. The next day, Jessica visits Philomena at the department store to see if she could take back the original wish. She wants Amy to stay forever with them because her father has grown fond of her and she can't bear to lose another mother. Philomena wishes she could help alter the wish, but shows Jessica what Amy will be up against if she isn't there to save her and other the mannequins with faces. The store she works at is planning to replace all the mannequins with faceless ones. Philomena tells Jessica there is only one way to avoid this and if she really wants to save Amy, they must act fast and join hands with her. That isn't the only thing Amy is up against, an inquisitive store detective suspects her of taking a missing Santa mannequin (needed for Jessica's Christmas pageant) from the store and questions her. However, Amy's mannequin friends come to her aid, especially a male mannequin dressed as a driver who warns him to keep his distance from her. Amy and the Santa mannequin both help Jessica overcome her stage fright and put on a convincing performance that wow's the crowd. Jim takes a photograph of Jessica, his first picture of her since her mother died. Christmas Eve and Philomena is late to perform the ritual needed to save Amy so she has to return to the store. Jessica recruits Jim to help save her and they head to the store. By the time they reach the store, they see Amy having gone back to being a mannequin and Jessica throws herself at her. She begs her father to grab Amy's hand and he reluctantly does. The ritual works and Amy is brought back before them. They head for home and Amy's mannequin friends wishes her the best of luck in her new life, while the store detective is awakened by Philomena using her magic feather duster. The film ends with a Christmas picture of Jim, Amy and Jessica. 

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Theresa is one of the twelve jurors who have to decide about a case of assassination. She believes very strongly in the innocence of the young man, but cannot convince the others. During the discussions she realizes that one member of the jury knows details that he could not know from the trial alone. Since no one believes her suspicions, she investigates on her own. 

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Bobby Gold is a homicide detective on the trail of Robert Randolph, a drug-dealer and cop-killer on the FBI's Ten Most Wanted List. En route to nab an accomplice of Randolph, Gold and his partner Tim Sullivan happen upon a murder scene: the elderly Jewish owner of a candy store in a ghetto has been gunned down, reportedly for a fortune hidden in her basement. The deceased woman's son, a doctor, uses his clout to have Gold assigned to the case in the belief that Gold, himself Jewish, might be empathetic to his plight. Gold, however, seems to disregard his ethnicity and is irritated about being pulled off a much higher-profile case. Ultimately, though, this is offset by interactions with members of the Jewish community that play on Gold's feelings of inadequacy and inability to fit in. A nighttime survey of the crime scene uncovers an important piece of the woman's past, and Gold's reluctance turns to curiosity, leading to the discovery of a Zionist organization operating in the city. The apparent power and sense of pride these people have is appealing to Gold, and he attempts to become a part of their group. Gold is thrust into a series of circumstances that test not only his loyalty to the badge, but also his newfound Jewish consciousness. 

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Sarah Pierce is a hapless, stay- at-home mother in a small suburb of Boston. She had been working on a doctorate in English, but set aside her work to marry Richard, and raise their 3-year-old daughter, Lucy. Her marriage falls apart when she discovers that Richard is addicted to online pornography. Sarah meets Brad Adamson, a law student who brings his 4-year-old son, Aaron, to the park. Brad is married to Kathy, and although their marriage is loving and amicable, it has been lacking intimacy. When Brad is supposed to be studying for the bar exam, he instead plays on a local football team or sits and watches teenagers skateboard outside his house, fantasizing about being young and carefree again. Brad and Sarah become friendly and, on a dare, kiss in the park, scandalizing the other park parents. They are instantly attracted to each other, but resolve to keep their relationship platonic. One day, several parents panic when they see sex offender Ronnie J. McGorvey, who was recently released from prison, swimming in the pool with the children. After Ronnie is escorted away by the police, it begins to rain. Sarah and Brad take Lucy and Aaron back to her house and put the kids to bed. Brad looks at one of Sarah's books and finds a photo of him in it. While Sarah is drying towels in her basement, Brad kisses her and they have sex. Brad's friend, Larry Hedges, is a former police officer who was forced to retire when he accidentally shot a teenager at a local mall. Now he is estranged from his wife and spends much of his time harassing Ronnie. Ronnie lives with his mother, May, who believes that meeting a woman his own age would cure him of his pedophilia. Ronnie knows this is futile, but agrees to go on a date May has arranged for him with a woman named Sheila. During dinner, Ronnie tells Sheila about his criminal record, and Sheila in return tells him that she has had a series of nervous breakdowns. They seem to get on well, but the date ends badly when he has her drive by an elementary school playground so he can masturbate next to her in the car. When Brad skips taking the bar exam again, Kathy grows suspicious and tells Brad to invite Sarah, Richard, and Lucy over for dinner. The intimacy evident between Brad and Sarah confirms her suspicions, and Kathy arranges for her mother to come for an extended visit so Brad and Sarah can't see one another anymore. When Brad's football team plays its final game, Sarah attends and cheers as Brad scores the winning touchdown. Afterwards, while Larry waits for Brad at a nearby bar to celebrate their victory, Brad and Sarah make out on the field. He admits that this is the happiest moment of his life, and convinces Sarah to run away with him. Larry goes to Ronnie's house and uses a bullhorn to taunt him. May comes out to confront him and has a heart attack. Larry is arrested and May is taken to the hospital. While Ronnie sleeps in the waiting room, May dies. When Ronnie goes home, he finds an envelope containing a letter written by his mother saying: "Please be a good boy." Distraught, Ronnie destroys much of his mother's collection of Hummel figurines, then takes a butcher knife from the kitchen. That same night, Sarah and Brad agree to meet in the park to run away together. Brad tells Aaron he loves him before putting him to bed, writes Kathy a note explaining why he is leaving her, then sneaks out while she and her mother finish the dishes. Before he can get to the park, he is distracted by skateboarding teenagers, who convince him to try a jump himself. Brad does so, but falls and knocks himself out. When he regains consciousness, he asks the paramedics to call his wife and to meet him at the hospital. It turns out that he never left the note for her and tells one of the skateboarders to dispose of it for him. When Sarah takes Lucy to the park, she sees Ronnie stagger by, and briefly feels afraid. When she sees him crying about his mother's death, however, she feels sorry for him. When Lucy disappears, Sarah panics and rushes to find her, forgetting about Brad. After Sarah finds Lucy and puts her in the car, Sarah starts crying, realizing her getaway with Brad is just a fantasy. Larry is upset about having indirectly caused May's death. He genuinely wants to apologize to Ronnie, but when he finds Ronnie in the park, he discovers that he has castrated himself and is bleeding to death. Larry races him to the hospital, and they arrive just as Kathy meets Brad at the emergency room doors. 

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Stan and Kyle set out to build a clubhouse so they can play Truth or Dare with Wendy and Bebe. Stan believes he will be dared to kiss his girlfriend, Wendy, and Bebe, who has developed a crush on Kyle, plans to dare Kyle to kiss her. Cartman and Kenny learn of Stan and Kyle's plans and set about building their own clubhouse. Meanwhile, Stan's parents, Randy and Sharon, divorce due to constant bickering. Sharon soon introduces Stan to a new stepfather, Roy, who promptly moves into the family home. Cartman and Kenny complete their clubhouse first, and Kenny manages to get two 16-year-old girls to hang out with them. Cartman attempts to get the girls to play Truth or Dare, but this fails when one of the girls says that Truth or Dare is for children. Stan and Kyle eventually finish their clubhouse, but it is time for Stan to visit his father. Randy displays insincere interest and is more focused on enjoying single life. The girls visit Stan and Kyle's clubhouse to play Truth or Dare. Kyle and Bebe end up kissing, and before Stan has his turn, Roy interrupts, causing Wendy and Bebe to leave. Randy and Sharon get back together as Stan sets them up for a meeting in his clubhouse. The next day, Stan and Clyde play Truth or Dare with Wendy and Bebe. Stan asks for a dare, expecting to be asked to kiss Wendy, but is instead told to insert a stick in his urethra. 

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The player discovers the Eidolon, a strange 19th-century vehicle, in an abandoned laboratory. As the player investigates this device, he is accidentally transported to another dimension and is trapped in a vast, maze-like cave. The creatures in this cave, sensing the energy emanating from the Eidolon, are woken from a long slumber, and the player soon finds that his only chance of survival lies in this mysterious vehicle and its powerful energy weapon.The Eidolon instruction manual. Lucasfilm Games. 1985. 

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Will Stronghold begins ninth grade at Sky High, a high school that exclusively teaches teenagers with superpowers. Will's parents are The Commander and Jetstream, two of the world's most famous superheroes. Will's best friend, Layla Williams, who happens to have a crush on him, has the power to manipulate plant life. Will is anxious about attending Sky High, located on a floating campus reached by a flying school bus, because, unbeknownst to his parents, he has not developed any super powers. On the first day, he and the other ninth graders are harassed by a duo of bullies: Speed, a burly senior with super speed, and Lash, a skinny senior with extreme flexibility . Because of his lack of powers, Will is assigned to a curriculum for "Hero Support" (i.e. a sidekick) by Coach Boomer. His classmates include Ethan, who melts into a fluid; Zach, who glows in the dark; Magenta, who transforms into a guinea pig; and Layla, who joins the class in protest of the two-track nature of the school's education system. The class is taught by The Commander's former sidekick, "All American Boy". Will learns from Nurse Spex that not everybody gets powers, and there are rare cases of those who have both parents with superpowers but do not inherit any superpowers, such as the bus driver, Ron Wilson. The Commander is unaware that his son has been relegated to Hero Support and shows Will his hidden trophy room, which he calls his "secret sanctum". He is particularly proud of the mysterious weapon, "The Pacifier", which he took from his science-themed nemesis Royal Pain years ago. Unknown to the two, Royal Pain, who has been presumed dead, watches them from a hidden camera in one of the other trophies, alongside a maniacal sidekick named Stitches. As Will settles into Sky High and makes friends with the other sidekicks, he comes into conflict with pyrokinetic student Warren Peace, whose supervillain father was imprisoned by The Commander. During a fight between the two, Will eventually manifests super strength, impressing Gwen Grayson, a beautiful and popular technopath who controls machines with her mind. Will is subsequently transferred to the "Hero" track, and inevitably becomes popular and unable to hang out with his Hero Support friends. Gwen visits the Stronghold's house and asks Will's parents to attend the Homecoming Dance to accept an award for Superhero of the Year, which they accept. Later on, while walking to her house, Gwen asks Will out to Homecoming and, to his delight, becomes his girlfriend. Will then begins spending more time with Gwen and her clique of friends, ignoring the sidekicks and Layla, who reveals to Warren that she has loved Will for a long time. On the night before the dance, Gwen tricks Will into throwing a party at his house and has Speed steal the Pacifier, which goes unseen by Will when he takes her into the Secret Sanctum. After Gwen lies to Layla, who shows up to investigate the noise and believes the lie, Will breaks up with Gwen, refusing to attend the dance, even though his parents were invited as honored guests. Later, he looks through his father's old yearbook and sees a student who resembles Gwen holding the Pacifier, which he subsequently discovers has gone missing. Believing that the student, Sue Tenny, was Royal Pain, and that Gwen is her daughter, he rushes to the dance. At the dance party, Gwen reveals that she is in fact Royal Pain herself. During her previous confrontation with the Commander, the Pacifier, which is meant to turn its target into an infant, malfunctioned, turning her into a baby instead, inadvertently faking her alleged death. Raised by Stitches, she has since waited 17 years for revenge. With the help of Stitches, Speed, Lash, and Penny, Royal Pain takes over the school, uses the Pacifier to turn Will's parents, the faculty, and students into babies, and plans to start a supervillain academy and raise the infants as supervillains as revenge for being written off as a sidekick in her youth. After returning to school, Will apologizes to Layla and teams up with Warren, the sidekicks, and Ron Wilson to save the day. The sidekicks demonstrate their heroism after Royal Pain sabotages the school's anti-gravity drive and their powers come in handy restarting it. Meanwhile, Will discovers that he has Jetstream's powers of flight when he is thrown off the edge of the school grounds and prevents the campus from falling using his two abilities. Royal Pain and her henchmen are defeated and imprisoned in the detention halls. Will's parents, the faculty, and students are returned to their proper ages. His parents thank all of the sidekicks and admit they are true heroes. Will and Layla kiss, and a voiceover by Will at the end reveals that Ron Wilson gained superhuman powers after falling into a vat of toxic waste, thus becoming a superhero, he and Layla have become a couple, he and Warren became best friends, he and Gwen (who along with the other bullies went to prison) became archenemies. Will states that this was indeed a weird series of events, ending the film by saying, "but hey; that's high school". 

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The novel is about Conrad, a young boy, who spends each Thursday afternoon with his uncle, Mr. Ringelhuth. One Thursday — it happens to be the 35th of May — they meet Negro Caballo, a black horse that can speak, is well-versed in German literature, and at the same time, is the best roller skater in the world. Together they enter Mr. Ringelhuth's huge wardrobe, which stands in the hallway, and end up in a series of magical lands, starting with the land of Cockaigne ("free entry — children half price"), followed by a mediaeval castle complete with jousting, an upside-down world in which children send bad parents to reform school, a science fiction nightmare city with mobile phones and moving walkways, and a South Sea island. On his return to the real world, Conrad writes a school essay about his experiences. The plot device of a magic wardrobe through which the characters enter magical lands anticipates the similar device used by C. S. Lewis in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, and, earlier, in the 1912 short story by E. Nesbit, "The Aunt and Amabel" — in which a girl enters a magic world through a wardrobe. (Critics accept that this was Lewis's inspiration.) 

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The film stars Maury Chaykin as Desmond Howl, a former rock star who has lived in seclusion in a seaside mansion since the death of his brother Danny (Paul Gross) in a car accident. Howl spends his time composing a symphonic masterpiece for the whales who congregate in the ocean near his property. His reason for this is revealed in the title of one of his songs, "Have You Seen My Brother?" — Danny died by losing control of his car and driving off a cliff into the ocean. One day, however, Howl awakens to find Claire (Cyndy Preston), a mysterious young woman, in his living room. Although Howl's world is disrupted, Claire ends up inspiring him to complete the symphony, to write his first great pop song in years, and to begin seeking connections with people again. The character of Desmond Howl is based largely on Brian Wilson. The cast also includes Kenneth Welsh, Jennifer Dale, Jim Byrnes, and Quarrington in a cameo appearance as a bartender. 

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Jenny Bowman (Judy Garland) is a successful concert singer who regularly tours the world. During a stay in London, she visits recently widowed David Donne (Dirk Bogarde), a prominent surgeon. More than a decade ago, the two had an affair that led to the birth of Matt, who is raised by David alone and has been told that he was adopted. Although Jenny and David agreed that Matt would never know the truth, David takes Jenny to Matt's boarding school in Buckinghamshire so that she may meet him just once. Jenny and Matt hit it off and the three spend the whole day together. Jenny invites the two to her concert at the London Palladium, but David is unable to make it because of work in Rome. With David absent and under the impression that Matt is back at school, Jenny and Matt spend a few days together exploring London. Jenny's manager and assistant try to cover for Matt by calling his school, but word about his absence gets back to David in Rome, who is furious. When David returns to London, he and Jenny have a fight, during which Matt overhears that they are his birth parents. David implores Matt to remain in England and finish his schooling, while Jenny insists that Matt should accompany her on her world tour. Confused, Matt rejects Jenny's invitations and the two agree to see each other again sometime in the future. Jenny turns to a night of drinking on the town to cope with the heartbreak and ends up twisting her ankle. At a clinic, she demands that David come to treat her. When he arrives, she claims to be quitting singing as she is "stretched too thin and everyone wants a bite," but David insists that she cannot let herself down this way and tells her that he loves her. At her concert that night, Jenny sings marvelously to the crowd. David leaves midway through her first number. 

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In 1880s, Francisco Manoel da Silva (Klaus Kinski) is a debauched Brazilian rancher who has reluctantly gone to work at a gold mining company after his ranch is ruined by drought. When he discovers that he is being financially exploited, he murders his boss and goes on the lam to pursue a career as an outlaw. He becomes the notorious Cobra Verde (Green Snake), the most vicious bandit of the sertão. In a visit to town, da Silva encounters and subdues by force of character an escaping slave, an act that impresses wealthy sugar baron Dom Octávio Coutinho (José Lewgoy). Dom Coutinho, unaware that he is dealing with the legendary bandit, hires da Silva to oversee the slaves on his sugar plantation. When da Silva subsequently impregnates all three of the Dom's daughters, the sugar baron is furious, but the situation becomes even more complicated when he discovers that da Silva is none other than the infamous Cobra Verde. As punishment, rather than kill him or have him prosecuted, Dom Coutinho decides to send da Silva on the impossible mission of re-opening the slave trade with Western Africa. The bandit is aware he is likely to be killed in Africa, but accepts anyway. He travels by sea to Dahomey, West Africa (present-day Benin), where he must negotiate with the fearsome King Bossa Ahadee of Dahomey (played by His Honour the Omanhene Nana Agyefi Kwame II of Nsein, a village north of the city of Axim, Ghana). Amazingly, da Silva succeeds in convincing the King to exchange slaves for new rifles. He takes over Elmina Castle and takes Taparica (King Ampaw), sole survivor of the previous expedition, for a partner. They begin operating the slave trade across the Atlantic to Brazil. Soon, however, the fickle king has them captured and brought before him. The King accuses da Silva of various crimes that he has no knowledge of, including poisoning the King's greyhound, and sentences him to death. He and Taparica are rescued the night prior to da Silva's decapitation by the King's nephew, who negotiates a blood alliance with da Silva, planning to overthrow the King. The ambitious bandit trains an enormous army of native women, and leads them on a raid to successfully overthrow King Bossa. Against all expectations, the slave trade is successfully maintained under the new King, thanks to da Silva's resourcefulness. However, da Silva eventually falls out of favour with the new King, and discovers that in the meantime the Portuguese have outlawed slavery and seized his assets, and the English have placed a price on his head. Despite the adversity, da Silva is glad that finally a change has come. The exhausted bandit tries desperately to take a boat to water, but despite his best efforts, he is unable to accomplish the task. He collapses next to the ship as the tide slowly laps in. The film ends with the image of an African man stricken with polio walking along the shore, and a group of young native women laughingly chant over the credits. 

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The film is about a young man named Talbot Roe (Phoenix), who's gone insane over the death of his wife. Talbot's father, Prescott Roe (Harris) feels his son's pain and wants to find him a new wife. He goes back to the place where he bought Talbot's first wife, from Eamon McCree (Bates). He finds the dead wife's sister (Tousey), who is a champion horse rider and Mr. McCree's daughter, which makes her only half-Indian. Roe asks McCree if he could have his last daughter for his son, but McCree refuses. Then, Roe kidnaps her and tries to get her to help him, and she takes the deal for gold and four horses. But Talbot isn't taking any chances for her—he's too afraid that she'll try to take his wife's corpse from him. And for the last few nights, he sees the ghost of his dead wife, who wants him to destroy her corpse, but he won't. 

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The plot of the game once again involves the protagonist Mega Man trying to thwart the world domination plans of the infamous Dr. Wily. On a seemingly peaceful day in a large city, Wily appears in the sky in his flying saucer and sends out a radio transmission that causes all the robots at the annual Robot Master Exposition to go on a rampage. He then sends eight new rebuilt robots of his own to different parts of the city to lead the destruction. Having resisted this reprogramming signal, Mega Man responds by defeating all four of these previous foes in battle and chases Wily to a large tank. Inside the tank, the hero encounters Ballade, yet another robot specially designed to kill him. Mega Man defeats this new enemy, pursues the remaining enemies in the city, and returns to the tank. There, he has a victorious rematch with Ballade, only to see Wily quickly retreat to his space station. Dr. Light fits Mega Man's companion Rush with a space flight ability, allowing the hero to lead a one-man assault on Wily's new stronghold. Mega Man beats Wily, but is unable to blast his way out of the exploding space station. At the last moment, Ballade arrives and self-destructs in repentance, creating a hole through which Mega Man can safely escape. 

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The story of Mega Man III consists of the hero Mega Man battling the evil scientist Dr. Wily, who is using a converted oil platform in the middle of the ocean to draw energy from the Earth's core to power a new machine. After annihilating eight robots whom Wily had previously used, Mega Man makes his way to Wily's lab, where he encounters the mad doctor attempting to escape. A powerful robot designed specifically to destroy the hero, Punk, confronts Mega Man but is defeated. Mega Man chases Wily onto the oil platform (which emerges from the water as Wily's latest fortress) and halts his enemy's plans once again. 

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The storyline of Mega Man II involves the hero Mega Man battling his arch nemesis Dr. Wily as the latter once again attempts to take over the world. This time around the evil genius has stolen an experimental "Time Skimmer" from the world's Chronos Institute and used it to travel 37.426 years into the future. Meanwhile, Mega Man is sent to investigate an underground passageway containing enemy Robot Masters from his previous adventures. Mega Man destroys them again and makes his way to Wily's fortress, which contains four more Robot Masters from his past. Once they are destroyed, Mega Man advances and comes upon Quint, a future version of himself. Wily had captured Quint in the future, remodeled him, and brought him back to the present. After Mega Man beats him, Quint relinquishes his "Sakugarne" jackhammer weapon to the hero. Mega Man follows Wily to a space station and defeats him. 

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In England in the early 1900s, young widow Lucy Muir moves to the seaside village of Whitecliff despite the disapproval of her mother-in-law Angelica Muir and domineering sister-in-law Eva Muir. She rents a place called Gull Cottage, though it has a reputation as being haunted by the spirit of a seaman who committed suicide there. On the first night after moving in with her young daughter, Anna, and her loyal maid, Martha, Lucy is visited by an apparition of the former owner, a roguish but harmless sea captain named Daniel Gregg. Gregg tells Lucy that his death four years ago was not a suicide but instead the result of accidentally kicking the valve on a gas-fired room heater in his sleep. Gregg explains that he had wanted to turn Gull Cottage into a home for retired seamen and does not appreciate her presence, having personally frightened away previous visitors. He didn't leave a will – including his plans for the house – because he hadn't anticipated dying so soon. However, due to Lucy's headstrong attitude as well as her appreciation of the house, Gregg reluctantly agrees to allow her to live in Gull Cottage and promises to make himself known only to her. It is not long before Angelica and Eva arrive with the news that Lucy's investment — her only source of income — has dried up, and they insist that Lucy move back to London with them. However, Gregg convinces Lucy to stay, using his ghostly abilities to drive her in-laws from the house. He suggests that Lucy publish a book, a dictation of his memories from his time at sea, for which she will take credit. During the course of writing the book they fall in love. Both realize it is a hopeless situation, and Gregg tells Lucy she should find a living man to marry. In London, Lucy becomes attracted to Miles Fairley, a suave author who writes children's stories under the pen name Uncle Neddy and arranges for an interview with his publisher. The Captain's lurid and sensational recollections, titled Blood and Swash, become a bestseller, providing Lucy with royalties which she uses to buy Gull Cottage. Fairley follows her back to Whitecliff and begins a whirlwind courtship. Captain Gregg, though initially disgusted by their relationship, decides to leave, as he considers himself an obstacle to Lucy's chance at happiness. While Lucy is asleep, Captain Gregg places in her mind the suggestion that she alone wrote the book and that his presence was merely a dream. He then fades away. Fairley sends a note cancelling a planned visit to Gull Cottage, saying he will be in London for a few days. Later, Lucy visits London to sign a contract, obtaining Fairley's London address from the office clerk and paying a surprise visit. Lucy discovers that Fairley is already married with two children, and his wife tells her that Fairley has romanced other women in the past. Heartbroken, Lucy returns to Whitecliff to spend the rest of her life as a recluse, with Martha looking after her. Anna, now grown, returns with a Royal Navy lieutenant she plans to marry. In the course of a conversation with her mother, Anna reveals that she too had seen Gregg's ghost, whom she regarded as a childhood friend, and knew about her mother's relationship with Uncle Neddy. Lucy reveals that fate has not been kind to Fairley; his wife and children have left him, and he has become fat, bald, and a heavy drinker. Many years later, now ailing and under a doctor's care, Lucy complains to Martha that her arm hurts and rejects the glass of hot milk Martha has brought for her. After Martha leaves the room, Lucy takes a sip, but the glass falls to the floor as she dies. Captain Gregg's ghost reappears and reaches out to Lucy, whose young spirit takes his hands and leaves her aged body. They gaze lovingly at each other, then walk arm in arm out of the house into an ethereal mist. 

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The story follows Luna, a genetically bred super-spy created by the US government. At age 15, Luna is given her toughest assignment yet: after being raised in isolation and only trained as a spy, she must now pose as a normal high school girl. Since she never knew real parents or friends, things quickly become very confusing for her. She makes friends with Oliver, a skater with a crush on her; and Francesca, a nice girl who used to be friends with Luna's rival. But she also has to deal with the emotions and events many teenagers face. To make matters much harder on Luna, the boy she develops a crush on, Jonah, is the son of her main enemy, Count Von Brucken. 

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The film follows the Beatles through their pre-fame Hamburg days when Stuart Sutcliffe, the band's bassist, meets German photographer Astrid Kirchherr. 

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After the final defeat of the Dinosaur Empire and the death of Musashi Tomoe in the original Getter Robo series, Dr. Saotome (Dr. Copernicus in Starvengers), creator of Getter Robo, fears that the peace the Getter Robo team has won will be short lived and that even greater enemies will appear. Dr. Saotome's fears are justified when the Hundred Demon Empire (Hyakki Teikoku, also known as the Pandemonium Empire in Starvengers) appears. Composed of horned, devil-like alien humanoids and possessing a technology advanced enough to build giant demonic robots, this militaristic organization intends to steal Saotome's Getter Generator to fulfill their own goals of world domination. However, Dr. Saotome is prepared with the creation of an even more powerful Getter Robo, Getter Robo G and a new Getter Robo base. Also, with Musashi dead, Dr. Saotome needs a third pilot, which he finds in baseball player Benkei Kuruma. 

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In 1985,https://variety.com/1957/film/reviews/queen- of-outer-space-1200419077/ Captain Patterson (Eric Fleming) and his space crew (Dave Willock, Patrick Waltz and Paul Birch) take a rocket to a space station near Earth. En route, however, the space station is destroyed by an interstellar energy beam which also affects their rocketship. The space crew crash land on Venus and are captured. They learn the planet is under the dictatorship of the cruel Queen Yllana (Laurie Mitchell), a masked woman who has most men killed, keeping only mathematicians and scientists on a prison colony moon which orbits Venus. In the palace, the astronauts are aided by a beautiful courtier named Talleah (Zsa Zsa Gabor) and her friends (Lisa Davis, Barbara Darrow and Marilyn Buferd). The women long for the love of men again and plot to overthrow the evil queen to reestablish the "old order". Once Patterson is alone with the queen in her bedchamber, he has the opportunity to remove her mask, revealing that her face is horribly disfigured due to radiation burns caused by men during a war between Venus and another planet "10 Earth years ago". Later, in a fury, the queen decides to destroy Earth to protect her world and to preserve her own power. In the presence of her armed guards, Talleah and the crewmen can only watch as she aims the energy-beam "disintegrator" at Earth. Just after the queen activates the weapon, Talleah's allies arrive. As a large struggle ensues, the disintegrator begins to malfunction, explodes, and the queen dies. Talleah is now the new leader of Venus and at a subsequent ceremony announces that Patterson's rocket has been repaired and he and his crew can return to Earth. Talleah's technicians have also repaired the "electronic televiewer", which allows space command on Earth to contact Patterson. Command orders him not to attempt a return home but to remain on Venus for at least a year, until a relief expedition can arrive. Although the crew could return to Earth in their repaired ship, they are elated to follow orders and stay. The film ends with the men and Venusians celebrating in a flurry of hugs and passionate kisses. 

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This film focuses on Claude (Alison Folland), a teenage girl who lives in Hell's Kitchen, New York City, and is the story of her sexual discovery and budding lesbianism during summer vacation. Claude's best friend is Ellen (Tara Subkoff). Her plan to start a band with Ellen is subverted when Ellen begins dating Mark (Cole Hauser). Claude discovers that Luke (Pat Briggs), a gay musician who has just moved into her apartment building, has been stabbed to death in what might have been a hate crime. Ellen hints at the fact that she was there when Luke was killed, but Claude keeps her mouth shut in order to protect her. Claude then goes to a gay bar and meets Lucy (Leisha Hailey), a pink-haired guitarist who is playing in the house band. Claude goes to Lucy's apartment, but freaks out and leaves, returning to her apartment to find Ellen waiting for her. They have a fight which ends with Claude screaming that she would die without Ellen. Claude goes out along with Ellen and Mark on one of their dates; Mark gives Ellen downers which make her violently ill. Claude brings her to the bathroom and forces her to vomit, and Ellen refers to Claude as her "Knight in Shining Armor." Mark is visibly furious but manages to contain himself. Claude leaves and goes to Lucy's apartment again, but leaves after a brief make-out session. On the way home, Claude is ambushed in the street by Mark, who questions her relationship with Ellen. Claude threatens to tell the police about Mark's possible involvement in Luke's death due in large part that she is worried that he is leading Ellen down a dark path. Claude goes home to find Ellen waiting for her. Claude tells her that they need to tell the police about Mark, but Ellen says she would go to jail if they knew about her involvement. Claude says she would never let that happen. Claude kisses Ellen and tells her that she loves her. Ellen tells Claude not to say that, and Claude leaves. The next day, Claude cleans out her room, removing all traces of Ellen. She goes to the police before work. Later, the police comes into her workplace and takes Mark away for questioning. Ellen tells Claude that she hates her. Claude says that she knows, and that she's sorry. Claude then starts seeing Lucy. 

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Eleven-and-a-half- year-old Dawn Wiener is a shy, unattractive, unpopular seventh-grader living in a middle-class suburban community in New Jersey. Her older brother Mark is a nerdy high school student who plays clarinet in a garage band and shuns girls in order to prepare for college. Her younger sister Missy is spoiled and manipulative; she pesters Dawn and dances around the house in a tutu. Her mother Marj is a shrewish woman who dotes on Missy and sides with her in disputes with Dawn. Her father Harv is a meek man who sides with Marj over Dawn. Her only friend is an effeminate sixth-grade boy named Ralphy, with whom she shares a dilapidated clubhouse in her backyard. At school, Dawn is ridiculed and her locker is covered in graffiti. At home, Marj punishes her for calling Missy a "lesbo" and refusing to apologize. Her teacher unfairly keeps her after school after one of her bullies Brandon McCarthy tries to copy her answers on a test. Later, Dawn gets in trouble again after accidentally hitting another teacher in the eye with a spitball in self-defense when Brandon and his friends bully her during an assembly. Mark's classmate Steve Rodgers, a handsome and charismatic aspiring rock musician, agrees to join the band in exchange for Mark's help in school. Dawn pursues him romantically when they spend time together, though one of Steve's former girlfriends tells her that she has no chance of being with him. After Dawn calls Brandon a "retard" during a confrontation, he threatens her with rape. His first attempt to assault her after school fails, but shortly afterward, he phones her, ordering her to meet him again the next day. When she complies, he takes her to a junkyard, where he starts an earnest conversation with her and kisses her instead. At dinner that evening, when she refuses to tear down her clubhouse to make room for her parents' 20th anniversary party, Marj has Mark and Missy destroy it and gives them Dawn's share of dessert. Dawn and Brandon spend time in her clubhouse, but she confesses to him her feelings for Steve, causing him to storm out. Ralphy, who was spying on them, tries to comfort Dawn, but she angrily rejects him when he insults Brandon, leaving her with no friends. At the anniversary party, Dawn intends to proposition Steve, but gets cold feet and is rebuffed. Steve plays with Missy, who pushes Dawn into a kiddie pool. That evening, the family watches a videotape of the party, laughing when Dawn falls into the water. Later, Dawn smashes the tape and briefly brandishes her hammer over Missy as she sleeps. A few days later, Brandon is arrested and expelled from school for suspected drug dealing. Meanwhile, Harv's car breaks down and Marj has to pick him up. She instructs Dawn to tell Missy to get a ride home with her ballet teacher, but she chooses not to after arguing with Missy, who is kidnapped as a result. Dawn visits Brandon's home and meets his mentally challenged brother and aggressive father. She tells Brandon that she wants to be his girlfriend, but he tells her that he is running away to New York City to avoid being sent to a reformatory. After they kiss, an argument about him dealing drugs ensues, with him saying that one of his friends is the real culprit. Regardless, he asks Dawn if she will come with him, but she declines and he leaves through his bedroom window. When Marj is informed that Missy's tutu was found in Times Square, Dawn goes to New York City to look for her. After a night of searching, she phones home and Mark tells her that Missy was found alive and unharmed by police after being abducted by a pedophilic neighbor. Dawn returns to town and her classmates ridicule her as she delivers a thank-you speech. Mark later tells her that she cannot expect school life to get any better until high school. On a bus ride to Walt Disney World for a concert tour, Dawn sits among her fellow choir members and joins them in singing the school anthem. 

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The story starts out with the Battle of the Supernatural Powers, a tournament to decide which Celestial (heavenly being in the original Japanese version) will be the next King of the Celestial World (God in the Japanese version"The Law of Ueki." Animax India. March 15, 2007. Retrieved on July 23, 2009.). Each of the 100 King Candidates (God Candidates in the Japanese version) is required to choose a junior high school student to act as their power user. The student is given a unique power and told to eliminate as many enemies as possible. The winning King Candidate will become the new King of the Celestial World and the winning student will receive the Blank Talent (Black Zai in the Japanese version), a talent that can be anything they choose. While this leads many students to thoughts of greed and selfishness, Kosuke Ueki decides to take it upon himself to win this tournament to keep that power away from those that would abuse such a gift. 

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The narrator, a computer scientist, gets a letter from former colleague Bill Rigley indicating that he has discovered components of an analytical engine which was apparently built in rural New Zealand in the mid 19th century. Traveling to New Zealand, the narrator is shown the machinery, which was discovered under a farm house near Dunedin as well as a book of scientific drawings and a journal. The journal contains entries written by someone with the initials L.D. who is in a romantic relationship with someone else, also with the initials L.D. One of them, a woman, built the analytical engine, the other drew the nature drawings. The narrator begins reading the journal. It is an account written by Luke Derwent who had fled to New Zealand with his half sister Louisa Derwent after the two fell in love and married. While Louisa builds her analytical engine, Luke explores the southern ocean with the help of Maori guides. On one of these explorations, Luke meets beings who the Maori call "the cold loving people". While these beings lack the "outward aspect" of humans, they are clearly intelligent and have amazing machines, including powerful medicine. Louisa takes sick and Luke determines to travel with her to the base of the "cold loving people" so that they may heal her. Bill shows the narrator a picture which Luke drew of the beings, which Louisa had named "Heteromorphs", showing them to be spider-like creatures about three feet tall. The narrator and Bill use information provided in Luke's journal to calculate that the Heteromorphs' base was on South Georgia Island. They begin planning a mission to South Georgia, hoping to beat several other groups which, having heard of the discovery, are planning to make their way to the island. 

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A single man who writes science fiction books and screenplays for a living, adopts a son who claims he is from Mars. The adoptive father comes to be intrigued by the possibility his son might really be a Martian. Ultimately, the father realizes that he loves his son whether or not he is a Martian. The son uses a magical "Martian wish" to be a human so he can remain with his father. 

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Mastermind Dave Purvis (William Talman) is a professional criminal who devises a scheme to rob an armored car on its last pickup of the day. He recruits Benny McBride, who brings Mapes & Foster to complete the gang of thieves. Benny needs money because Yvonne (Adele Jergens), his striptease artist wife, has lost interest in him and is seeing another man. Unbeknownst to Benny, the man she is two-timing him with is Purvis. The robbery itself, at Wrigley Field in Los Angeles, begins as planned but goes badly wrong when a passing police patrol car intervenes. Purvis kills one of the police officers from the patrol car and he and his fellow robbers make their getaway. Lt. Jim Cordell (Charles McGraw), the dead policeman's partner, takes it upon himself to bring in his partner's killer and throws himself into the case, assisted by a rookie officer. Meanwhile, Purvis's gang unravels bit by bit as distrust and paranoia begins to build. Benny, wounded by police during the heist, is killed by Purvis as he demands his share of the loot from the robbery and attempts to seek medical help. Foster is killed by the police as the three attempt escape. After Mapes (Steve Brodie) gets away, he looks up Yvonne at the Burly Q where she works, intending to use her as a means to find Purvis, who has kept all the loot for himself. The waiting police, however, arrest Mapes at the Burly Q and learn Purvis's identity. After a further manhunt, Lt. Cordell and his team corner Purvis and Yvonne at Los Angeles Metropolitan Airport, and Purvis is crushed by a taking-off plane as he tries to escape across the runway. 

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The main story involves a man's maturation in a future dominated by China, where the United States has undergone a Communist revolution (the "Cleansing Winds Campaign") after a period of economic crisis. His personal evolution is paralleled by four side stories in his narrative, following characters progressing from arrogant outsiders to finding a place in society. 

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Ariane Emory is one of fourteen "Specials", Union-certified geniuses. In addition to her research on azi, she runs Reseune (founded by her parents) with the assistance of Giraud and Denys Nye. Emory is also a member of the Council of Nine, the elected, top-level executive body of Union. Two political factions vie for power in Union: the Centrists and the Expansionists. The latter, led by Emory, seek to enlarge Union through exploration, building new stations and continued cloning. Her political enemies, headed by Mikhail Corain, prefer to focus on the existing stations and planets. The Expansionists have held power since the foundation of Union, a situation fostered by "rejuv", which extends lifespans and staves off the effects of old age. Emory herself is 120 years old at the start of the novel – and only just beginning to show signs of aging – and has been the Councillor for Science for five decades. Emory's former co-worker and now bitter longtime rival, Jordan Warrick, is also a Special. Jordan has created and raised a clone of himself named Justin. Justin has grown up with and is very close to Grant, an experimental azi created by Emory from the slightly modified geneset of another Special. When Justin goes to work for Emory, she threatens to use Grant, who is Reseune property, for research. Using drugs and tape to overcome Justin's remaining resistance, she rapes the inexperienced seventeen-year-old. This trauma causes him to experience periodic debilitating "tape-flashes", similar to the flashbacks that PTSD sufferers experience. Justin does his best to hide the sordid matter from his "father", but Jordan eventually learns of it. He is furious and confronts Emory. She is found dead later that day. Though it could have been accidental, there is strong suspicion that she was murdered by Jordan. He protests his innocence, but agrees to a confession in order to protect both Justin and Grant. Because of his Special status, he has legal immunity and is only exiled to an isolated research facility far from Reseune. It is later revealed that Emory's rejuv was failing and she was already dying of cancer. Emory's last project had been the cloning of a promising young chemist to see if it was possible to recreate his abilities. An earlier attempt with Estelle Bok, the inventor of the equation that led to faster-than-light travel, had failed miserably. However, Emory believed this was due to the Bok clone growing up in a different social environment than the original. Emory's ultimate goal was to clone herself, with her successor reliving her life as closely as possible, down to her hormone levels and including two longtime bodyguard azi and companions, Florian and Catlin. Emory also created a sophisticated and powerful computer program to help guide her replacement. With her death and the resulting disruption to both Reseune and Union, the second project is begun immediately. Ari, the clone of Emory, is raised by Jane Strassen, a top Reseune scientist in her own right and the closest match to Emory's mother Olga. In addition, Florian and Catlin are replicated (a much easier task with azi). When Ari is seven, Strassen is abruptly transferred to another planet to simulate Olga's death. Denys Nye, now Reseune Administrator, takes over Ari's rearing. By this time, it is clear that the experiment has succeeded. Not only is Ari as brilliant as her predecessor, but due to technological advances, knowledge of the original's experiences, and better parenting by Jane Strassen, Ari is several years ahead of Emory's pace and better adjusted socially. When Ari is nearly nine, the Centrists, in a bid for power, attempt to use a scandal involving Emory – the deliberate abandonment of a secret colony on the planet Gehenna. The Reseune authorities have Ari legally recognized as Emory's clone, entitled to take possession of her predecessor's property, in order to block the release of potentially damaging information. Denys is forced to reveal to his young ward who she is and how much her life has been manipulated. Because of deep Administration suspicion of his loyalties, Justin is warned to stay away from Ari. However, he cannot avoid bumping into her from time to time as she grows up. She comes to like him and appreciate his skills, particularly since his interests lie in her own area of research. Soon after she gains adult status, she has Justin and Grant transferred to her new department. However, when the sixteen-year-old makes a pass at him, she is shocked by his strong reaction. Justin is forced to reveal the reason. Ari discovers that Emory's rape of Justin had not just been for sex, but also a major "intervention" to free him from his father's domination, so he could work for Emory; it was left unfinished when she died. The younger Ari repairs the damage as best she can. Ari also comes to terms with the fact that she is much like her predecessor; it is sometimes hard to know where Emory's memories stop and Ari's start. She takes up the original's ultra-secret agenda, revealed to her by Base One, her guiding computer program, and unknown to anyone else. Emory had undertaken to restructure Union society to, in her view, save it from eventual collapse. Giraud Nye had taken over Emory's seat in the Council of Nine after her death. A major political crisis is precipitated by his death from old age, as well as the Paxers – a terrorist group – manipulating Jordan. An attempt on Ari's life is barely foiled when Justin's just-in-time warning enables Florian and Catlin to deal with an unexpected would-be assassin. Such a major breach in security could only have come from a top-rank Reseune source. Ari suspects Denys Nye. When Denys tries to lure her in for another try by promising to resign, Florian and Catlin kill him, much to Ari's regret. 

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Buffy receives a serious stab wound while fighting a run-of-the-mill vampire at the cemetery; she is saved only by the unexpected arrival of Riley. Despite his encouragement that she is not losing her edge, Buffy wants to research ways to avoid making more mistakes. She and Giles start looking in the Watcher diaries for information about past Slayers' deaths, but Giles tells her there won't be much information because the Watchers usually also died or found it too painful to recount the incidents. Buffy then remembers they have another witness to Slayers' final battles: Spike. Buffy drags Spike from his crypt, takes him to the Bronze and pays him to tell her about his battles with the two Slayers that he killed. He starts out by describing how he was turned in 1880 London, revealing (to the audience, if not entirely to Buffy) that he was the meek poet William, ridiculed by his peers and rejected by the love of his life, Cecily, who declared him "beneath her," before Drusilla sired him and took him with her to travel Europe with her sire Angelus (Angel sans soul) and his sire/paramour Darla. Spike further describes how, mere months later, he became far more assertive, already using his new name "Spike," speaking in a more forceful, working class accent, and preying upon innocents not for sustenance but for fun, calling too much attention to the group as far as Angelus was concerned. Angelus preferred meticulous, artistic kills, and Spike's love of brawls and riots required them to flee London. Spike mocked Angelus's attitude, and the older vampire lost control, almost staking him, but Spike only laughed at having provoked Angelus to such an extent. Infuriated, Angelus remarked that maybe one day an angry crowd would teach Spike the folly of his excesses, adding "That...or the Slayer," a comment which instantly intrigued Spike. In the present, Spike reveals that, upon learning of the Slayer, he became obsessed with her; unlike other vampires, who feared the Slayer, Spike actively sought her out, craving the challenge she would provide. Meanwhile, Riley, Xander, Willow and Anya take over Buffy's patrol. Riley is very methodical, but the rest of the Scoobies are rather lax about the process. They do discover a nest of vampires, including the one that injured Buffy. They make plans to destroy it the next day when the vampires won't be active. Back at the Bronze, Spike tells of killing the Chinese Slayer during the Boxer Rebellion in 1900, defeating her after a long and brutal fight, describing her as "all business" and getting nostalgic about how Drusilla was excited afterward, calling the event "the best night of my life" (much to Buffy's disgust). Spike also points out that while the Slayer can kill thousands of demons and vampires, all it takes to kill her is for one of them to have one lucky day. Riley, rather than waiting for daylight, goes back to the vampire lair at night, stakes the vampire who wounded Buffy and then firebombs the crypt, killing the others. Spike's reminiscences continue as he discusses his second Slayer kill (Nikki Wood), whom he describes as more improvisational like Buffy, and whom he killed on a New York City Subway about 1977. After he finishes, he reveals that he won by exploiting the Slayers' curiosity about – and wish for – death, further claiming that every Slayer has a death wish, including Buffy herself. Buffy rejects his conclusion and becomes angry and disgusted when Spike comes on to her, trying to kiss her and challenging her to prove him wrong. Knocking him to the ground, Buffy, echoing Cecily, contemptuously informs Spike that he is "beneath her" before walking away. Spike's feelings of sadness and humiliation, which cause him to briefly succumb to tears, are quickly overtaken by anger and frustration. He arms himself with a double-barreled shotgun at his crypt, determined to kill Buffy for this insult. When she gets home, her mother reveals that she needs to go into the hospital for some more tests, and that her condition may be serious. Unable to bear this information, Buffy retreats to the back porch in tears. At that moment, Spike approaches with his shotgun, but Buffy's distraught state changes his mind and he attempts to comfort her instead. He takes a seat next to her and gently pats her on the back, an action that Buffy does not rebuff, though her shock is clear. 

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Buffy trains and works on her strength with the help of Giles and some crystals. She practices a handstand on a block of wood, but falls when her sister, Dawn, knocks over the crystals. In the morning, Dawn continues annoying Buffy by emptying the milk carton. Joyce asks Buffy to take Dawn shopping for school supplies, but Riley reminds her they had already made plans. Buffy has to cancel so she can go work with Giles. Giles drives the sisters on their errands, having trouble with the automatic transmission in his new BMW convertible. They spot Willow and Tara heading for the magic shop, and Buffy tells Willow that she's dropping Drama in favor of more slayer training. At the shop, the gang finds the owner dead, killed by vampires. Buffy sends Dawn outside where she encounters a deranged man. He seems to recognize her, saying, "You don't belong here." She is upset until Tara comes to keep her company. The gang realizes that a pack of vampires raided the shop for books on how to defeat the Slayer, under Harmony's leadership. Giles admires the shop and its potential for a future business. That night, Dawn is happy to have Xander as her babysitter, until she discovers Anya is coming too. Harmony arrives to challenge Buffy but is disappointed when she's not there. Xander taunts Harmony and her minions from the safety of the house until Dawn mistakenly invites Harmony inside. After Harmony puts up a fight, Xander kicks her out of the house. Harmony later encounters Spike in the graveyard, and the two talk about Harmony's plans to kill the Slayer. While unpacking in their new place, Tara and Willow discuss how Dawn is having a hard time as the outsider of the Scooby Gang. Tara reveals that she has similar feelings as an outsider. On patrol, Buffy is fuming about the lecture she received from her mother about allowing Dawn to see a dead body. Riley tries to talk some sense into her, pointing out she and Dawn resent each other for similar reasons. When they return home, Xander tells Buffy about Harmony and - after the Slayer stops laughing - she gets angry that Dawn invited Harmony inside. Buffy complains to Riley and Xander about the trouble Dawn causes and how she can't always be there to protect her; Dawn listens from the hall and runs outside in tears. Before Anya can bring Dawn back inside, Harmony's vampire minions capture Dawn and attack Anya causing her to be hospitalized. Buffy then runs out to find her sister leaving Xander and Riley to take care of Anya. Harmony explains to her minions that Dawn is bait, meaning they can't eat her. Harmony complains to Dawn about her problems until her mutinous minions attempt to kill them both. Buffy - who had threatened Spike until he revealed Harmony's location - arrives and easily kills most of the minions as Harmony escapes. The Slayer frees her sister and when they get home, they agree not to tell their mother. The next day, Buffy and Giles talk about his decision to take over the magic shop, while Dawn writes in her journal that Buffy still thinks she's a nobody, but she's going to be in for a surprise. 

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Xander and Anya watch a movie with Buffy and Riley and overhear Xander's drunken parents fighting and yelling upstairs. The next day, the gang looks at a prospective apartment for Xander. He doesn't think he can afford it and this upsets Anya. Giles receives a visit from a demon searching for the Slayer. He later identifies the demon as Toth, only survivor of the Tothric Clan. The gang checks out the city dump in search of the demon and find Spike collecting. The demon hits Xander with light from a rod and knocks him to the ground. He gets to his feet and walks off with the rest of the gang, but then we see that there is another Xander still lying in a pile of trash. The next morning, one Xander awakens at the city dump and then discovers his double upon returning to his house. Spike has put together a Buffy doll from mannequin parts which he uses to practice beating up on. One of the Xanders is very ambitious and gets a promotion at work, signs a lease for the apartment, and sets up a date with Anya. The unconfident Xander watches as all this happens and finally confronts his double. After the two Xanders see each other, the confident Xander talks to Buffy and she makes this a matter of Slayer business. Soaked by the rain, weak Xander goes to Willow and tries to explain that this double is taking over his life. He tells Willow that the double is doing a better job of living his life but then suddenly realizes that his double is going after Anya and that is one thing he won't allow. Anya and the Xander double discuss their future and Anya expresses her fears about not living forever. Giles discovers that the rod Toth used split Xander into two real Xanders, one with weak qualities and the other with strong qualities. He intended to use the rod to split Buffy into two beings. In addition, as the two beings are real and technically one being, the death of one will kill them both. The weak Xander crashes the date between strong Xander and Anya. Both think that the other is a demon and the weak Xander pulls out a handgun he got from Anya's apartment. Buffy tells the doubles the truth about their situation and tries to convince them not to kill each other. Toth appears at the apartment then Buffy and Riley fight and kill him. The two Xanders eventually begin to get along, and their actions become so similar to each other that Giles says Xander is a "bad influence" on himself. Giles and Willow research and come up with a way to reunite the two Xanders but Anya expresses disappointment over this as she wants both to stick around for a 'sandwich' maneuver, much to the disturbance of the others. Willow ends the spell on the Xanders and makes them one again. While moving Xander into his new apartment, Xander and Riley talk. Riley confesses that despite how much he loves Buffy, he realizes that she doesn't feel the same. 

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The book is written in the form of a false document. It opens with a foreword by Meyer, who states that the manuscript was brought to his attention by a woman with some familial connection to Horace Vernet, an ancestor of Holmes. The woman had read The Seven-Per-Cent Solution and thought Meyer might be interested. Although damaged by water, the manuscript proved authentic. Dr. Watson explains in his own preface that he did not publish the story because of the number of well-known persons who would be affected - persons whose identity would be impossible to disguise. Holmes had for a long time refused Watson permission to write the story on these very grounds, but Watson eventually persuaded him by promising to place the manuscript in Holmes' hands, the only condition being that he not destroy it. The story involves many well-known people, including George Bernard Shaw, who hires Holmes to look into the death of an unpleasant theatre critic; Sir Arthur Sullivan, one of whose singers at the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company was another victim of the murderer; and others including W. S. Gilbert, Oscar Wilde, Bram Stoker, Henry Irving, Ellen Terry and Frank Harris. In the novel, Holmes clears the name of a shy Parsee Indian wrongfully accused of murder; in real life Conan Doyle played a significant part in helping George Edalji, a Parsee victim of injustice in the English court. 

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The day of a full moon, Xander and Giles learn about a brutal murder in the woods the night before. They discover that Xander had slept through his watch of the werewolf Oz, and that the window in the pen is open. Buffy talks to Mr. Platt, the school psychologist, about her life and begins to open up. On patrol that night, Angel attacks her in the woods. Animalistic, he is no match for Buffy, who chains him up in the mansion. She sees the spot on the floor where she left his ring; it was scorched by Angel's body on his return. Willow, Xander and Cordelia enter the morgue to collect hair samples from the body of the mauled boy. Buffy tells Giles that she had a vivid dream of Angel coming back. Giles explains that time passes differently in demonic dimensions, so any being who manages to return would most likely have been turned into a monster. Buffy wonders if Angel was responsible for the murder; the hair samples were inconclusive. Pete and Debbie sneak into a room to make out. Pete discovers that one of his jars has been emptied and accuses Debbie of drinking its contents. Buffy returns to Mr. Platt's office and pours her heart out, then realizes that he has been mauled to death. Pete yells at Debbie, then transforms into a monster. He tells her that he used to need the substance to turn into the monster, but now only needs to get mad. He begins beating Debbie, then tells her it's her fault for making him mad, turning back into his human form. She forgives him. Oz is no longer suspected, as Mr. Platt was killed during the day. He meets up with Debbie and notices her black eye. Buffy and Willow seek out Debbie, and try in vain to talk sense into her. Meanwhile, Angel breaks free from his shackles, and Pete finds Oz in the library. Pete turns into a monster and starts to beat up Oz for talking to Debbie. The sun sets and the tables are turned when Oz transforms into his werewolf form, Oz becoming evenly matched in strength and begins fighting Pete. Buffy tries to tranquilize Oz, but Debbie pushes the gun away and Buffy ends up shooting Giles. Buffy chases after Pete while Willow and Faith pursue Oz. After a struggle, Faith sedates Oz with a dart. Buffy follows Pete's blood trail, but he finds Debbie first and despite her pleas and attempts to appease him, he kills her. Buffy finds Pete, but he knocks her to the ground and advances threateningly on her. Angel arrives and he and Pete begin fighting; Angel uses the chains that still bind his wrists to kill Pete. Afterwards, he reverts to his human face and calls out Buffy's name before falling to his knees and embracing her in tears. Buffy begins to cry as well, finally accepting that Angel is back. 

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Principal Snyder hands out boxes of candy to all the students, which they must sell to pay for new marching band uniforms. Buffy sells half of her chocolate bars to her mom, and the other half to Giles. She then visits Angel, who is practicing T'ai chi. When she arrives home, Buffy finds her mother and Giles eating the band candy. The next day, Giles fails to show up for study hall, where Xander and Willow are playing footsie. Worried, Buffy goes to Giles' home and finds her mom on the couch. Joyce offhandedly gives her the car keys to drive home, to Buffy's astonishment. Giles, now acting like he did as a teen, invites Joyce out for some fun. Buffy and Willow find The Bronze packed with adults who are acting like teenagers, including Principal Snyder. They return to Giles' place to find out what is going on. At the warehouse, the vampire Mr. Trick checks up on Ethan Rayne and the production of the chocolate bars. Trick suddenly accuses one of the workers of eating the candy, and kills him as an example to the others. Buffy eventually puts two and two together and realizes that the candy is making everyone act like immature teenagers. She sends Willow and Oz to the library and drives to the warehouse. Upon arrival, Buffy finds her mother and Giles kissing in the middle of the street. Inside the warehouse, Buffy catches Ethan; her threat of violence persuades him to reveal that Trick needs to dull Sunnydale adults in order to collect a tribute for a demon named Lurconis. Meanwhile, four vampires enter the hospital to remove four newborn babies. Willow phones Buffy from the library and tells her that Lurconis eats babies. Giles remembers that the demon may be found in the sewers. Down in the sewers, the Mayor and Mr. Trick wait impatiently while the four vampires chant in a ceremony to summon Lurconis. Buffy, Giles and Joyce crash the party, and the Mayor quickly flees unnoticed. Buffy fights the vampires while Giles and Joyce take the babies to safety. The huge snake-like demon appears and swallows one of the vampires whole. Giles attacks Trick, but is thrown into the path of Lurconis. Buffy pulls down a gas pipe, igniting a fire that kills the demon. Back at his office, the Mayor asks why Trick fled, allowing Buffy to kill Lurconis. Trick replies that he thought he did the Mayor a favor by having the Slayer kill the demon, leaving one less demon to whom the Mayor would owe tribute. The Mayor warns Trick against doing him any more such favors. The next day, the adults have returned to their senses. Buffy and Giles meet Joyce, and Buffy exclaims that they are lucky she stopped them before they did more than they did. Joyce and Giles look very embarrassed, but Buffy fails to notice. 

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At the cemetery, Buffy stalks her vampire prey, killing several new vampires with a little unwanted help from both Riley and Spike. Riley demonstrates quite a bit of enthusiasm and new strength while fighting, while Buffy simply orders Spike to stay out of her way. As Buffy and Riley leave, Spike swears to taste Buffy's blood, but as he walks off, he falls into an open grave. Buffy and Willow debate over a topic from class and discuss Buffy's busy schedule. Buffy arrives at The Magic Box to train and is pleasantly surprised to see that the backroom has been transformed into an amazing training room. Harmony seeks Spike and his help because she is frightened that Buffy is out to destroy her. The two conspire to kill the Slayer. Joyce is chatting while making breakfast for Dawn, and in the midst of a sentence suddenly asks, "Who are you?" before collapsing onto the floor. At the hospital, an intern, Ben, informs Buffy and Riley that Joyce will be fine, but that doctors aren't sure what caused her to collapse. Dawn is playing with a stethoscope and when she listens to Riley's heart, she finds that it is racing much faster than normal. After listening to Riley's heart, a doctor recommends that he stay in the hospital, as tachycardia puts him at high risk of a heart attack, but Riley disregards their concerns. Buffy tries to think of a way to help Riley and finally resolves to go to Riley's place and contact The Initiative via the bugs in his room. Still part of the government, Graham tries to force Riley to see a doctor, but Riley is stronger than Graham and the other agents and gets away. After speaking with Graham later that day, Buffy takes it upon herself to get Riley to a doctor before he dies. Buffy gives Spike information about the doctor that can help Riley hoping that the vampire could help find Riley and bring him there. Instead, Spike and Harmony kidnap the doctor in order to force him to remove Spike's chip. Searching for Riley in the ruins of the high school, Willow uses a "Fiat Lux" ("Let there be light") spell to create light rather than use a torch. Tara is concerned by this. Buffy finds Riley in the Initiative caves, punching into rock because he can't feel any pain. He tells her that he's afraid he won't be enough for her once he lets the doctors operate on him. After convincing Riley to get medical attention, Buffy brings him to the hospital and finds Dr. Overheiser gone. Just after Overheiser finishes sewing up Spike's skull, Buffy arrives with Riley and a fight ensues. As he tries to bite the Slayer, Spike finds that the doctor only pretended to remove the chip from his head. When Riley suffers a heart attack and collapses while fighting Harmony, Buffy and the doctor immediately turn their attention to him. With the humans distracted, an enraged Spike escapes with Harmony, ranting about his disgust with Buffy and his weariness with how she is seemingly the source of everything wrong with his life. The doctor is able to operate successfully on Riley. Later, Graham talks with Riley and tells him he no longer has a purpose in Sunnydale. Without the Initiative, he's nothing. Afterwards, Buffy goes to Spike's crypt with the intention of staking him; however, when she confronts him, he angrily tells her to kill him. Spike angrily berates Buffy as the source of his torment, and yells that he would rather die and be free of her: however, Buffy cannot bring herself to do it and the pair kiss. Suddenly Spike wakes up beside a still sleeping Harmony; he's merely suffered a nightmare, but Spike is mortified at the thought he has feelings for Buffy. 

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The movie deals with the main character, Elling, a man with generalized anxiety in his 40s, and his struggle to function normally in society. He suffers from anxiety, dizziness, and neurotic tendencies, preventing him from living on his own. Elling has lived with his mother for his entire life, and when his mother dies, the authorities take him from the apartment where he has always lived and send him to an institution. His roommate is the simpleminded, sex-obsessed Kjell Bjarne. The Norwegian government pays for the two to move into an apartment in Oslo, where every day is a challenge as they must prove they can get out into the real world and lead relatively normal lives. With the help of social worker Frank and a few new friends, they learn to break free from their respective conditions. 

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Like much of Renault's fiction, the book, published in 1972, provides a sympathetic portrait of homosexual love. The Persian Boy is notable for its depiction of the tradition of pederasty in ancient Greece, where relationships between adult men and adolescent boys were celebrated. In the novel, Bagoas is 15 years old when he begins his relationship with Alexander (then about 26). Renault depicts the attachment as lasting until Alexander's death, when Bagoas would have been about 22. She explores the tensions in the triangular relationship between Alexander and his two lovers, Hephaistion and Bagoas, and suggests that Alexander went mad with grief over Hephaistion's untimely death. 

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Disillusioned paramedic and ex-cop Simon Brenner finds himself trapped between the front lines of two competing Emergency Medical Services in Vienna's relentless summer heat. Things turn really hot when Brenner starts looking into the unusually high death rate of elderly patients. 

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Jacko Argyle dies in prison while serving a sentence for killing his adoptive mother Rachel Argyle. His own widow, Maureen, believed him to have been responsible. Jacko's alibi failed when police could not find the man who had given him a ride to the next town as the murder was happening. Two years later, Jacko's alibi suddenly appears and the family must come to terms not only with the fact that Jacko was innocent, but also with suspicion falling upon each of them as the real murderer. Some realize there is a murderer living among them, raising tensions among the family. Suspicions fall on his father, his brother Mickey, his sisters Hester, Mary and Tina, even his father’s secretary and the long-time housekeeper Kirsten, as the new investigations proceed. The witness, Arthur Calgary, was unaware of the trial as he was out of the country and thus failed to come forward. He believes the Argyle family will be grateful when he clears their son's name but fails to realise that this means another member of the household must have murdered Rachel. However, having provided Jacko's alibi, he is determined to protect the innocent by finding the murderer. Calgary visits retired local doctor, Dr MacMaster, to ask him about Jacko. MacMaster says that he was surprised when Jacko was convicted for killing Rachel, not because murder was outside Jacko's 'moral range', but because he thought Jacko would be too cowardly to kill somebody; that, if he wanted to murder somebody, he would hire an accomplice. Calgary speaks to Maureen, who reveals Jacko's persuasive ways with older women: initiating affairs and then taking money from them. While the police and Calgary gather new information and seek the murderer, Mickey plans to meet with Tina, as he knows she had heard something that night, which seemed irrelevant back then. It is Philip Durrant, husband of Mary Argyle, whose efforts to find the guilty one among them force the killer to strike again. Tina comes to Sunny Point to meet with Philip. As she reaches his room, Kirsten is at the door with a tray, and they see that Philip is dead at his desk. Tina walks until she collapses outdoors where Mickey sees her, thinks she fainted, and carries her inside. Doctor Craig arrives and sees that Tina has been stabbed in the back and must go to hospital. Hester tells Calgary about Philip and Tina. Calgary heads to Superintendent Huish, who repeats the words Tina spoke in hospital, that the cup was empty, Philip's cup, meaning Kirsten was leaving not entering the room. At Sunny Point, Calgary reveals to all, in the library, that the killer is the housekeeper, Kirsten. Jacko had persuaded the plain Kirsten that he was in love with her, and persuaded her to murder Mrs Argyle to steal some much needed money, money his mother would not give him. When Kirsten learned that Jacko was secretly married, meeting his wife the day after the murder, Kirsten realized what a fool she had been and sees the evil in Jacko. Kirsten runs away, and the family expect the police will nab her. While Mary mourns her beloved husband, her sister Hester professes her love for Arthur Calgary. She suspects that Tina and Mickey will get together once Tina recovers. Leo feels free once again to remarry. 

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A revolution takes place within Ramat, a fictional kingdom in the Middle East. Before their deaths, Prince Ali Yusuf entrusts his pilot, Bob Rawlinson, to smuggle a fortune in jewels out of the country. These are concealed in the luggage of his sister, Joan Sutcliffe, and her daughter Jennifer. Unbeknown to him, a mysterious woman watches him conceal them from the balcony of a neighbouring room. Three months later, Jennifer prepares to attend Meadowbank School, a prestigious girls' prep school in England. Its staff includes Miss Bulstrode, the school's founder and headmistress; Miss Chadwick, a co-founder of the school; Miss Vansittart, a teacher for several years; Miss Rich, a teacher for eighteen months; Miss Johnson, the girl's matron; Angèle Blanche, the new French teacher; Grace Springer, the new gym teacher; Ann Shapland, Bulstrode's new secretary; and Adam Goodman, the new gardener. Bulstrode is nearing retirement, so she decides to seek a successor. As Chadwick is considered to be too old, Bulstrode is left to choose between Vansittart, whom many believe she will choose, and Rich, who is young and has many ideas. One night, Springer is found by Johnson and Chadwick, shot dead in the Sports Pavilion. When the police begin to investigate, Goodman reveals to Inspector Kelsey, and later to Bulstrode, that he works for British Intelligence - he is at Meadowbank to track down the gems Rawlinson smuggled out, while monitoring Princess Shaista, Ali Yusuf's cousin, who is attending the school for this term. During the investigation, Jennifer complains that her racquet feels unbalanced since being abroad, and switches it for that of her friend Julia Upjohn, while she awaits a new one. Later, a woman gives Jennifer a new racquet to replace her current one, claiming it is from her Aunt Gina. However, the sharper Julia suspects this is not the case as the two girls had swapped racquets, and Aunt Gina later writes to reveal that she had not sent her niece the new racquet. The following weekend, Shaista is kidnapped by someone posing as her uncle's chauffeur, while on the night of the kidnapping, Vansittart is murdered with a sandbag in the Sports Pavilion. While many of the girls are sent home, Julia investigates Jennifer's racquet, and finds the smuggled jewels within a hollow in the handle. When someone attempts to enter her room during the night, she quickly flees the school to tell her story to Hercule Poirot, a friend of a friend of her mother. Arriving at Meadowbank to investigate the murders, he learns that Blanche had been recently murdered with a sandbag - the police suspect she knew the killer's identity and attempted blackmail. Interviewing Bulstrode, he learns that she believed Julia's mother Mrs Upjohn, who had served in military intelligence, had noticed someone at the school on Parent's Day whom she recalled seeing from fifteen years ago. Poirot eventually reveals to all that the Shaista who attended Meadowbank was an imposter; the real Shaista was kidnapped by a group seeking Ali Yusuf's jewels. When the imposter couldn't find them, the group extracted her before the police presence at the school exposed her. Poirot then explains that the motive for the murders was the missing gems, whereupon he denounces Ann Shapland as the killer - she had been in Ramat three months ago and was the woman who had witnessed Rawlinson concealing the gems in Jennifer's racquet. Poirot reveals that Springer was killed because she caught Shapland searching for the racquet, while Blanche was killed for her attempted blackmail in regards to the Springer murder. Through Mrs Upjohn, Poirot identifies her as a ruthless espionage agent known as "Angelica". Before Shapland is arrested, she attempts to shoot Mrs Upjohn; Bulstrode tries to shield her, but Chadwick steps in faster to shield both and is fatally wounded. Shapland is disarmed and taken away. Poirot reveals that the second murder was not Shapland's work. Although she had killed the would- be blackmailer Mlle Blanche in the same manner to make a link between the two, she had an airtight alibi for Vansittart's killing. That was done by Chadwick, who was jealous of Vansittart as Bulstrode's chosen successor. Chadwick found her in the Sports Pavilion and struck her down in a fit of madness. Before dying, Chadwick confesses to Bulstrode. In the aftermath of the investigation, Bulstrode appoints Rich as her successor, with both focusing on rebuilding Meadowbank. Meanwhile, Poirot turns over the gems to Mr Robinson to be delivered to an English woman who had secretly married Ali Yusuf when he was a student, with Julia receiving one of them as a reward. 

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A dying woman, Mrs Davis, gives her last confession to Father Gorman, a Catholic priest, but along with her confession she gives him a list of names and a terrible secret. Before he can take action, however, he is struck dead in the fog. As the police begin to investigate, a young hero begins to piece together evidence that sets him upon a converging path. 

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Sheila Webb, a typist at Miss Martindale's agency, arrives at her afternoon appointment at Wilbraham Crescent in Crowdean, Sussex. She finds a well-dressed older man, stabbed to death, surrounded by six clocks, four of which are stopped at 4:13, while the cuckoo clock announces it is 3 o'clock. When a blind woman enters the house about to step on the corpse, Sheila runs screaming out of the house and into the arms of a young man passing down the street. This man, Special Branch or MI5 agent Colin "Lamb", takes Sheila into his care. He is investigating a clue from a note found in a dead agent's pocket; letter M, number 61, and a sketch of a crescent moon written on a bit of hotel stationery (sketched in the book). At 19 Wilbraham Crescent, home of the blind Miss Pebmarsh, a police investigation begins into the murder. The dead man's business card proves false. His clothing reveals nothing else, as all labels have been removed. He was killed with an ordinary kitchen knife. Colin and Inspector Hardcastle interview the neighbours. Their homes adjoin the murder site on the street or from the back gardens in this unusually arranged Victorian housing development. Colin takes a liking to Sheila. Hardcastle questions Mrs Lawton, the aunt who raised Rosemary Sheila Webb. Rosemary is the name on a clock found at the scene of the murder, but it disappeared before police gathered them up. Colin approaches Hercule Poirot, an old friend of his father, to investigate the case. He challenges Poirot to do so from his armchair. He gives Poirot detailed notes. Poirot accepts, then instructs Colin to talk further with the neighbours. At the inquest, the medical examiner explains that chloral hydrate was given to the victim before he was murdered. After the inquest, Edna Brent, one of the secretaries, expresses confusion at something said in evidence. She tries but fails to convey this to Hardcastle. She is soon found dead in a telephone box on Wilbraham Crescent, strangled with her own scarf. The dead man's identity is yet unknown. Mrs Merlina Rival (original name Flossie Gapp) identifies the dead man as her one-time husband, Harry Castleton. Colin leaves Britain on his own case, travelling behind the Iron Curtain to Romania. He returns with the information he needed, but not the person he hoped to find. Following Poirot's advice, Colin talks with the neighbours. He finds a ten-year-old girl, Geraldine Brown, in the apartment block across the street. She has been observing and recording the events at Wilbraham Crescent while confined to her room with a broken leg. She reveals that a new laundry service delivered a heavy basket of laundry on the morning of the murder. Colin tells Hardcastle. Hardcastle tells Mrs Rival that her description of the deceased is not accurate. Upset, she calls the person who involved her in this case. Despite police watching her, she is found dead at Victoria tube station, stabbed in the back. Poirot's initial view of this case is that the appearance of complexity must conceal quite a simple murder. The clocks are a red herring, as is the presence of Sheila, and the removal of the dead man's wallet and tailor marks in the clothing. Colin updates Poirot on subsequent visits. At a room in a Crowdean hotel, Poirot tells Inspector Hardcastle and Colin Lamb what he has deduced. From a careful chronology, he deduces what Edna realised. She returned early from lunch on the day of the murder because her shoe was broken, unnoticed by Miss Martindale, the owner. Miss Martindale took no telephone call at the time she claimed she had, and is the one person with motive to murder Edna. From that fictitious call, the boss sent Sheila to Miss Pebmarsh's house for steno/typing service. Miss Pebmarsh denies requesting this service. Mrs Bland, one of the neighbours, mentioned she had a sister in the initial interview with Hardcastle. Poirot deduced the identity of this sister as Miss Martindale. The present Mrs Bland is the second Mrs Bland. Mr Bland said his wife was the sole living relative for her family inheritance but she cannot both be sole heir and have a sister. Mr Bland's first wife died in the Second World War; he remarried soon after, to another Canadian woman. The family of his first wife had cut off communication with their daughter so thoroughly they did not know she had died. Sixteen years later, the first wife was announced to be the heiress to an overseas fortune as the last-known living relative. When this news reached the Blands, they decided the second Mrs Bland must pose as the first Mrs Bland. They fool a British firm of solicitors that sought the heir. When Quentin Duguesclin, who knew the first wife and her family, looked her up in England, a plan was laid to murder him. The plan was simple, with additions like the clocks taken from an unpublished mystery story that Miss Martindale had read in manuscript. They murdered Mrs Rival before she could tell the police who hired her. Mr Bland and his sister- in-law thought their plan would baffle the police, while Mrs Bland felt she was a pawn in their schemes. Mr Bland disposed of Duguesclin's passport on a trip to Boulogne, which trip he mentioned to Colin in casual conversation. Poirot holds that people reveal much in simple conversation. Poirot had assumed this trip took place, so the man's passport would be found in a country different from where he was murdered, and long after friends and family in Canada had missed him on his holiday in Europe. The missing clock, with Rosemary written on it, was traced. Colin realises that Sheila had taken it and tossed it in the neighbour's dustbin, seeing it was her very own clock, mislaid on the way to a repair shop. But the clock was taken by Miss Martindale, not mislaid by Sheila. Colin turns his note upside down, and it points him to 19 Wilbraham Crescent. Miss Millicent Pebmarsh is the centre of the ring passing information to the other side in the Cold War, using Braille to encode their messages. He has decided to marry Sheila and realises that Miss Pebmarsh is Sheila's mother, and thus his future mother-in-law. He gives her two hours warning of the net closing around her. She chose her cause over her child once, and does so again, clutching a small deadly knife. "Lamb" disarms her and the two wait for the arrest, both firm in their convictions. The novel closes with two letters from Inspector Hardcastle to Poirot, telling him police have found all the hard evidence to close the case. Mrs Bland, less ruthless than her sister, admitted all under questioning. 

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This story takes place at the Golden Palm resort on the Caribbean island of St Honoré. Miss Marple's nephew has paid for her to holiday there after a bout of ill health. She speaks with Major Palgrave, a well-travelled man with many stories to share. She sits, half listening, until Palgrave tells a story about a man who got away with murder more than once. When Palgrave asks her if she wants to see a picture of a murderer, she listens intently – but after he looks in his wallet for the photo, he suddenly changes the subject. Miss Marple looks up to see why and spots several people nearby. The next day, when the maid Victoria finds Major Palgrave dead in his room, Miss Marple is convinced he was murdered. She asks Dr Grahame to find the photo he mentioned, pretending it is of her nephew. Meanwhile, she interviews the others: Tim and Molly Kendal, owners of the hotel; the Prescotts, a clergyman and his sister; Mr Jason Rafiel, a tycoon confined to a wheelchair; Jackson, his nurse/masseur/attendant/valet; Esther Walters, his secretary; the American Lucky Dyson and her husband, Greg; and Edward and Evelyn Hillingdon. On the beach, Miss Marple sees Señora de Caspearo, a woman on holiday who says she remembers Major Palgrave because he had an evil eye. Miss Marple corrects her that he had a glass eye, but she still says that it was evil. Victoria informs the Kendals that she did not remember seeing the high blood pressure medication, Serenite, in Major Palgrave's room before his death, although it was found on his table after his death. That night, Victoria is found stabbed to death. Molly begins having nightmares. Miss Marple finds Jackson looking at Molly's cosmetics who says that if belladonna were added to it, it would cause nightmares. The following night, Tim finds Molly unconscious on the floor, apparently having taken an overdose of sleeping pills. The police are involved, and the cook, Enrico, tells them he saw Molly holding a steak knife before going outside. Miss Marple asks the others if Major Palgrave told people about the photo. Others claim Palgrave said it was not a photo of a wife killer but a husband killer. Major Palgrave is exhumed and the autopsy reveals that he was poisoned. At night, Tim wakes up to find his wife is missing. They find what seems to be her body in a creek, but it turns out to be Lucky; the two women resemble one another. Miss Marple wakes Mr Rafiel and they go to Tim and Molly Kendal's house. There they find Tim offering Molly some wine. Miss Marple tells Jackson to take the wine away. She shows it to Mr Rafiel, saying there is a deadly narcotic in it. She explains that Tim is the wife killer, recognised by Major Palgrave. Miss Marple had thought Palgrave saw the Hillingdons and the Dysons on his right as they were coming up the beach, but later realised that he had a glass eye on the right so he could not have seen them. Tim and Molly were sitting on his left. Tim was planning to kill his wife and so had to kill Major Palgrave when he recognised him. He also killed Victoria, who remembered the Serenite. Tim put belladonna in Molly's cosmetics to make her appear mad to the others. Tim had asked his wife to meet him by the creek, but Molly had been distracted by a vision due to the belladonna and wandered off. Tim saw Lucky and mistook her for Molly. He was about to poison Molly when Miss Marple came in. Esther Walters suddenly insists that Tim is not a killer. Tim shouts at her to keep quiet. He had been planning to marry Esther, after Molly's death, because he had heard that she was going to inherit a large sum of money from Jason Rafiel. 

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The basic premise for the series, akin to the much later live-action sci-fi series Sliders, was the story of a band of adventurous, cuddly, dog-like creatures called Fluppies who use a crystal key to open inter-dimensional doorways. They are on a mountain of one world in perilous weather, and use the crystal key to escape, ending up in a jungle world the Fluppies are chased by a big purple dinosaur-like creature, they find another portal and escape into a supermarket on Earth. Mistaken for regular dogs, they are captured and placed in a pound. However, prior to their capture, one of the Fluppies was seen shouting to the others which was noticed by J.J. Wagstaff, a ruthless businessman. As their only means of escape, Stanley, the leader of the Fluppies, manages to get a woman to pick him as a pet for her son, Jamie; he plans to eventually return to the pound to free the others. Jamie is disappointed at this new dog, which is smaller than he hoped, but he takes him for a walk. Taking the opportunity, Stanley escapes his leash and makes a break for it, but Jamie pursues him so as to not anger his mother for losing his new pet so soon. Unfortunately, the chase leads to a construction site and Jamie finds himself in danger, forcing Stanley to reveal his intelligence and humanoid nature to save him. Meanwhile, Wagstaff, whose mansion is filled with hunting trophies and live exotic animals, sees in an old book the talking dogs he'd seen earlier; they are identified as Fluppies. Wagstaff vows to add the Fluppies to his menagerie. Now with a secret, Stanley explains the situation and Jamie offers to help. Unfortunately, the boy only has enough money to purchase one of Stanley's compatriots, Tippi, and his mother won't let him keep her. Fortunately, Jamie's neighbor Claire eagerly agrees to take her in. That night, as Jamie and Stanley sleep, the boy reflexively scratches the Fluppy's head, which causes their bed to fly. Once they awaken and learn how to control the flying effect, Stanley resolves to break his compatriots out that night and pick up Tippi to do so, inadvertently revealing their nature to Claire in the process. At the pound, Stanley and Tippi manage to free their friends and barely avoid Wagstaff, who had the pound opened to seize them. The next day, the Fluppies depart to find another dimensional portal, but they need Jamie's help. He leaves school to aid them. This portal turns out to lead to a water world, and the company are flooded out and have to return to Jamie's home to dry out. Hiding in the basement, the Fluppies discover another portal inside that very house, but opening it releases a large rambunctious creature that runs about, throwing Jamie's home into a shambles before they can bring it under control. Although the gang manages to put the house in order before Jamie's mother comes home from work, she gets news that Jamie cut school. Angry at her son for playing hooky, she asks a lot of questions, which Jamie concocts a long story whilst the Fluppies clandestinely keep the alien creature pacified in the basement by feeding it flowers. Hoping to avoid ruining Jamie's life any more, some of the Fluppies continue their search on their own while Stanley and Tippi keep the alien creature hidden in the basement. The venturing Fluppies come to a library and finally locate the portal to their home world. Unfortunately, while they are returning to tell the other Fluppies the great news, Wagstaff captures Ozzie, forcing Stanley and Tippi to ask for Claire's help. Jamie sees them depart in Claire's car as he and the youngest Fluppies ride on the creature in pursuit. Unfortunately, Wagstaff has been expecting this and manages to capture Stanley and Tippi in his home and threatens to call the police on the children for breaking and entering. With a desperate plan, the Fluppies convince Wagstaff to let the children "say goodbye" and signals them to scratch on all their heads. The combined strength of this magic tears the entire section of Wagstaff's house into the air. As the occupants struggle to keep their footing with the violent jostling, the Fluppies reach the portal at the front of the library and they crash land the building in front of it. As they struggle to open this portal, which enters into the Fluppies' home dimension, Wagstaff and his butler find themselves knocked inside by the creature while Stanley's company bolts to safety. Before Wagstaff and his butler can exit, the door closes permanently, leaving Jamie and Claire alone in their own reality. Months later in winter, Jamie and Claire have grown to be close friends after this extraordinary adventure, but they miss the Fluppies dearly. However, Stanley suddenly appears, saying that adventure is an important part of life. His fellow Fluppies appear saying they missed Claire and Jamie, and Stanley reveals that he has found a way to stabilize the portal between his homeworld and Earth. Hundreds of Fluppies line up to pass through the portal, eager to tour Earth. 

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Norma Restarick seeks help from Poirot, believing she may have committed murder. When she sees him in person, she flees, saying he is too old. He pursues the case finding that Ariadne Oliver sent Norma to him. He believes there is a murder that prompted Norma's fears. Poirot and Mrs Oliver gather information, visiting her parents’ home and her apartment building. Norma does not return home after a weekend visit to her father and stepmother. Mrs Oliver finds her in a café by chance with her boyfriend David. Poirot meets Norma at the café, where she mentions the death again. After describing the odd times where she cannot recall what has happened she leaves in fear again. Mrs Oliver trails David, ending up in the hospital after being coshed on the head upon leaving his art studio. Poirot arranges for Dr Stillingfleet to follow Norma; he pulls her to safety from a close call with speeding traffic and brings her to his place for treatment and for safety. Norma's father Andrew abandoned her and her mother Grace when Norma was about 5 years old. Andrew had run off with a woman in a relationship that ended soon after. He travelled in Africa in financially successful ventures. Norma lived with her mother until Grace's death two and a half years before. Andrew returned to England after his brother Simon died a year earlier, to work in the family firm, arriving with a new young wife. Norma can recognize nothing familiar in this man, but accepts him. Norma is the third girl in her flat in the fashion of young women advertising for a third girl to share the rent. The main tenant is secretary to her newfound father; the other girl, Frances, travels often for the art gallery that employs her. Mrs Oliver learns that a woman in the apartment building had recently died by falling from her window. A week passes before she tells Poirot, who feels this is what bothers Norma. The woman was Louise Charpentier. Norma says that her father ran off with Louise Birell. Later, Mrs Oliver finds a piece of paper linking Louise Charpentier to Andrew. Mary Restarick has been ill from poison in her food. Sir Roderick engages Poirot to find documents missing from his files which encounter brings young Sonia under suspicion. Norma is lured from Dr Stillingfleet by an ad in the newspaper to meet David, and is again drugged. Frances kills David. She sets it up to appear that Norma did it, but the blood on the knife was congealed when Norma found herself holding it. With police and family gathered in the flat, Poirot announces that Andrew did die in Africa. Robert Orwell is posing as her father to gain the wealth of the family. He had David paint portraits of him and his late wife in the style of a painter popular 20 years earlier as part of the ruse. Most cruelly, he and his wife have been giving Norma various drugs that give her hallucinations and an altered sense of time, to set her up as guilty. Further, the wife had poisoned herself hoping to pin that on Norma, too. Louise wrote to Andrew on learning he was back in England, so Frances killed Louise; this is the murder Norma feared she did. The woman posing as her stepmother was also Frances, who used a blonde wig to cover her dark hair when changing roles. Poirot takes the wig from her bag to make that point. Murder of the two who could expose the imposters was just one of her crimes. Sonia is exonerated when she finds the papers Sir Roderick misplaced, and the two will marry. Poirot had chosen Dr Stillingfleet to help him with Norma in hopes the two would marry, and they will. 

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The story begins with Michael telling us about his time as a chauffeur and how he met the architect Rudolph Santonix. He plans to one day have a house built by Santonix. Michael is walking along a village road near the Gipsy's Acre property one day when he meets Ellie, a wealthy heiress who wants to escape from her world of snobby friends, begging relatives, and restrictive financial advisors. As it turns out Ellie had purchased Gipsy's Acre before they met, they decide to marry and build a house at Gipsy's Acre acre with Santonix. The newlywed couple decide to go around the village meeting its residents but are threatened by an old gypsy woman, Mrs Lee, who warns them and instructs them to leave because of a curse. Ellie sustains an injury and invites her companion, Greta Andersen, over to stay with them. Ellie begins to worry about Mike and Greta, as they get into heated arguments. While at lunch with Major Philpot, Mike begins to worry about the fact that Ellie has not yet joined them after going out horse riding. The next day, they find Ellie dead and having sustained no apparent injuries, the local police determine that Ellie died of shock, likely induced when she encountered Mrs Lee. Ellie also had a heart condition. Michael travels to America to attend Ellie’s funeral with her family and collect the inheritance. While there he hears that Mrs Lee has been found dead in a quarry, and Claudia Hardcastle (one of Ellie’s friends from the village) has also died whilst out riding. After Ellie's funeral, Mike goes to visit Santonix on his deathbed. Right before Santonix dies, he screams, “You should have gone the other way!” Feeling disturbed by this, Mike returns to the UK on a sea voyage to give him time to reflect. When he returns to the village Mike reveals how he and Greta had met much earlier when in Germany, they had fallen in love and devised a plan to take Ellie’s money. They killed her with cyanide put inside her allergy pills that took a while to dissolve, and paid Mrs Lee to frighten Ellie and raise suspicion of the shock theory. To eliminate her as a witness, they pushed Mrs Lee into a quarry. Claudia Hardcastle was unintentionally poisoned after finding and taking some of Ellie's pills. It is assumed that Santonix had guessed Michael’s intents and was trying to warn him of the rage fits he (Mike) had. He and Greta celebrate what they have done, but Michael starts to lapse and sees Ellie everywhere he looks. When they realise Ellie's relatives may have suspicions about them, Mike has another fit and strangles Greta. Shortly afterwards, the police and the local doctor arrive; their suspicions were aroused by Claudia Hardcastle's death. Mike reminisces about all of the bad things he has done, such as drowning his childhood friend to steal his watch. He asks for a pen and paper to write down his story, and the novel ends. 

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In 1950, George Eastman (Montgomery Clift), the poor nephew of rich industrialist Charles Eastman (Herbert Heyes), arrives in town following a chance encounter with his uncle while working as a bellhop in a Chicago hotel. The elder Eastman invites George to visit him if and when he ever comes to town, and the ambitious young man takes advantage of the offer. Despite George's family relationship to the Eastmans, they regard him as something of an outsider, but his uncle nevertheless offers him an entry-level job at his factory. George, uncomplaining, hopes to impress his uncle (whom he always addresses formally) with his hard work and earn his way up. While working in the factory, George starts dating fellow factory worker Alice Tripp (Shelley Winters), in defiance of the workplace rules. Alice is a poor and inexperienced girl who is dazzled by George and slow to believe that his Eastman name brings him no advantages. Over time, George begins a slow move up the corporate ladder into a supervisory position in the department where he began. He has submitted recommendations on improving production in his department, which finally catch the attention of his uncle, who invites him to their home for a social event. At the party, George finally meets "society girl" Angela Vickers (Elizabeth Taylor), whom he has admired from afar since shortly after arriving in town, and they quickly fall in love. Being Angela's escort thrusts George into the intoxicating and care-free lifestyle of high society that his rich Eastman kin had denied him. When Alice announces that she is pregnant and makes it clear that she expects George to marry her, he puts her off, spending more and more of his time with Angela and his new well-heeled friends. An attempt to procure an abortion for Alice fails, and she renews her insistence on marriage. George is invited to join Angela at the Vickers's holiday lake house over Labor Day and excuses himself to Alice, saying that the visit will advance his career and accrue to the benefit of the coming child. George and Angela spend time at secluded Loon Lake, where Angela tells George the story of a couple's supposed drowning there, with the man's body never being found. Meanwhile, Alice finds a picture in the newspaper of George and Angela boating with friends, and realizes that George lied to her about his intentions for wanting to go to the lake. During a dinner which is attended by the Eastman and Vickers families, George appears to be on the verge of finally advancing into the business and social realm that he has long sought. However, Alice phones the house during the dinner party and asks to speak with George. She tells him that she is at the bus station and that if he does not come to get her, she will come to where he is and expose him. Visibly shaken, he announces to the families that his mother is ill and that he must leave, but promises Angela that he will return. The next morning, George and Alice drive to City Hall to get married but they find it closed for Labor Day. George is relieved. Remembering the story Angela had told him about the drowned couple, and knowing that Alice can't swim, George suggests spending the day at the nearby lake; Alice unsuspectingly agrees. When they get to the lake, George pulls the car's choke to feign it being out of gas in order to hide the car in the woods. He acts nervously when he rents a boat from a man who seems to deduce that George gave him a false name; the man's suspicions are aroused more when George asks him whether any other boaters are on the lake (none are). While they are out on the lake, Alice talks about her dreams concerning their happy future together with their child. As George apparently takes pity on her, Alice tries to stand up in the boat, causing it to capsize, and Alice drowns. George escapes, swims to shore, behaves suspiciously when he comes across campers on his way back to the car, and eventually drives to the Vickers' lodge. There, he tries to relax, but is increasingly tense. He says nothing to anyone about having been on the lake or about what happened there. Meanwhile, Alice's body is discovered and her death is treated as a murder almost from the first moment, while an abundant amount of evidence and witness reports stack up against George. Just as Angela's father approves Angela's marriage to him, George is arrested and charged with Alice's murder. George's furtive actions before and after Alice's death condemn him. His denials are futile, and he is found guilty of murder and sentenced to death in the electric chair. Near the end, he agrees when the priest suggests that, although he did not kill Alice, he did not act to save her because he was thinking of Angela. The priest then states that, in his heart, it was murder. Later, Angela visits George in prison, saying that she will always love him, and George slowly marches toward his execution. 

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Sir Stafford Nye's flight home from Malaya takes an unexpected twist, when a woman approaches him in the Frankfurt Airport. The woman claims that her life is in danger, and that she needs his help. Nye agrees to lend her his travelling cloak, passport, and boarding ticket. A colleague in London, Horsham of Security, tells Nye that his action in Frankfurt saved Mary Ann's life; Sir Stafford heard another name announced for her at the airport, Daphne Theodofanous. Nye has dinner with his friend Eric, worried for his professional reputation. Mary Ann returns his passport, taped into a magazine in his post. Nye advertises in the personals section of the newspaper for his mystery woman, signing himself as Passenger to Frankfurt. She replies with tickets to an opera, given at a discreet meeting on a bridge. His great-aunt Matilda hints to him of a terrible world-wide conspiracy, which uses a phrase of music from Richard Wagner, related to the opera Siegfried (1876). Matilda detects that he has a woman in his life now. The opera is Siegfried, part of The Ring of the Nibelung by Wagner. The mystery woman attends only the second half, leaving Nye the tune for young Siegfried marked on a copy of the program, a motif for what she is doing. He attends an embassy party, given by the American ambassador and his wife, Sam and Mildred Cortman. Mary Ann is there, under her real name, Countess Renata Zerkowski. She offers Nye a ride home, but takes him instead to the home of Mr Robinson the financier, where they meet Colonel Pikeaway, Lord Altamount, James Kleek and Horsham. Nye is not seen for a while, as he has been accepted by the close-knit group of British intelligence to aid in accomplishing the tasks Mary Ann has taken on. They travel extensively. Mary Ann warns Nye that one among their own group is probably a traitor. Some believe that near the end of World War II, Adolf Hitler went to a mental institution, met with a group of people who thought they were Hitler, and exchanged places with one of them, thus surviving the war. He escaped to Argentina, where he married and had a son who was branded with a swastika on his heel. This belief encourages those who want to resurrect the beliefs and ways of the Nazis. The Countess believes she has this boy with his swastika tattoo. The story is told to the Intelligence group by psychiatrist Dr Reichardt, but they know it is false. Hitler had no son. The British Intelligence group explains in several long expository chapters how drugs, promiscuity, and student unrest in the United States and Europe are caused by Nazi agitators. The agitators begin to bring about anarchy, attacking the American ambassador and the French Marshal. The goal is to re- build fascism. Meetings in Paris and London describe the movement of money and arms and their sources, and major players. Nye's aunt, Lady Matilda, goes on her own trip, to visit her school mate, Countess Charlotte von Waldsausen, learning Charlotte's plans to be leader of the fascist world, which she then relates to her nephew. On her return, Matilda tells her friend Admiral Philip Blunt about the scientist Professor Shoreham, who invented something called Project B, or Benvo, which is a drug that makes people altruistic, but may cause a long-term change. Shoreham had a stroke, and he cannot communicate well. He had shelved Project B before his stroke. The Intelligence group meets at Shoreham's home, where he explains the limitations of his benevolent project. Kleek, traitor in the Intelligence group tries to kill Lord Altamount by poison and is blocked, so Miss Ellis the nurse to Shoreham shoots Lord Altamount, who dies of shock. Miss Ellis is recognized as Milly Jean Cortman, who had also killed her husband. The violent incident brings new energy to Shoreham, who resolves to restart work on his project. He will contact his colleague Gottlieb to restart Project Benvo and also arrange a memorial to Lord Altamount, the only politician he had ever trusted. The final chapter is an epilogue, with Nye at Matilda's house preparing for his upcoming marriage to Mary Ann. The supposed son of Hitler has been brought to England for a more normal life and is about to become the organist at their church. Sybil, Nye's 5-year-old niece, will be the flower girl at the wedding. Nye forgot a best man, but asks Sybil to bring the panda, which he bought for her at the Frankfurt airport, in it from the beginning. 

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Miss Marple receives a letter from the solicitors of the recently deceased Jason Rafiel, a millionaire whom she had met during a holiday on which she had encountered a murder, which asks her to look into an unspecified crime; if she succeeds in solving the crime, she will inherit £20,000. Rafiel has left her few clues. She begins by joining a tour of famous British houses and gardens with fifteen other people, arranged by Mr Rafiel prior to his death. Elizabeth Temple is the retired school headmistress who relates the story of Verity, who was engaged to Rafiel's ne'er-do-well son, Michael, but the marriage did not happen. Another member of the tour group, Miss Cooke, is a woman she had met briefly in St Mary Mead. Her next clue comes from Lavinia Glynne; Rafiel had written to Mrs Glynne and her two sisters before his death, suggesting Miss Marple spend the most physically challenging few days of the tour with them. Miss Marple accepts Lavinia's invitation. She then meets Lavinia's spinster sisters, Clotilde and Anthea Bradbury-Scott. On talking with the servant, Miss Marple learns Verity joined the family after both her parents died, becoming quite attached to Clotilde. Verity is dead now, brutally murdered. Michael Rafiel is in prison. On the morning of her return to her party, Miss Marple learns Miss Temple had been injured by a rockslide during the previous day's hike, and was lying in a coma in hospital. The group stays over an extra night to wait for news from the tour guide about Miss Temple's health. Professor Wanstead, a pathologist and psychologist interested in criminal brains, had been instructed by Mr Rafiel to go on the tour. He had examined Michael Rafiel at the request of the head of the prison where Michael was incarcerated; he came to the conclusion Michael was not capable of murder. He tells Miss Marple how uninterested Michael's father seemed. He mentions a missing young local woman, Nora Broad, and he fears she will be found murdered. Wanstead takes Miss Marple to see Miss Temple; in a moment of consciousness, Miss Temple had asked for Miss Marple. Miss Temple wakes long enough to tell Miss Marple to "search for Verity Hunt", and dies that night. The three sisters extend their invitation to Miss Marple when she decides not to return to the tour, and she promptly accepts. That night, Mrs Glynne tells the story of Verity in their household to Miss Marple. After the inquiry into Miss Temple's death, Miss Marple is visited by Archdeacon Brabazon, a friend of Miss Temple. He tells Miss Marple he was going to marry Verity Hunt and Michael Rafiel in a secret ceremony. While he disapproved of the secrecy and worried about their prospects, he agreed to marry them because he could see they were in love. He was most surprised when neither turned up for the wedding, nor sent a note. Miss Marple stays another few nights with the three sisters when the tour moves on. Professor Wanstead travels to London by train on an errand for Miss Marple. Miss Barrow and Miss Cooke decide they will visit a nearby church. Later that evening, Miss Marple talks with the sisters about what she thinks may have happened and, while they are doing so, Miss Barrow and Miss Cooke appear, to talk to Miss Marple. They stay for a time and are then invited back for coffee that evening. As they talk about Miss Temple, Miss Marple suggests, albeit dissembling, Joanna Crawford and Emlyn Price (two of those on the tour) pushed the boulder, and their alibis are mere fabrication. As they get ready to leave, Miss Cooke suggests the coffee would not suit Miss Marple, as it will keep her up all night. Clotilde then offers some warm milk. The two ladies soon depart, although each returns to retrieve a forgotten item. At three o'clock in the morning, Clotilde enters Miss Marple's room, surprised when Miss Marple turns on the light. Miss Marple tells her she did not drink the milk. Clotilde offers to warm it up, but Miss Marple tells her she still would not drink it because she knows Clotilde killed Verity Hunt and buried her body in the wreck of the greenhouse, because she could not bear Verity leaving her for someone else. She also knows Clotilde brutally murdered Nora Broad to (mis)identify her body as Verity's and thus throw suspicion on Michael Rafiel. Clotilde murdered Miss Temple as well. As Clotilde advances toward her, Miss Marple blows on a whistle, which brings Miss Cooke and Miss Barrow to her defence — they are bodyguards employed by Mr Rafiel to protect Miss Marple. Clotilde drinks the milk herself, which is poisoned. Miss Marple tells the story to the Home Secretary, including that Verity is buried on the property of the Bradbury-Scotts. Michael Rafiel is set free. Miss Marple collects her inheritance, confident she completed the task given her. 

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Now in their seventies (though the author never states their age clearly), Tommy and Tuppence move to a quiet English village, looking forward to a peaceful retirement. But, as they soon discover, their rambling old house holds secrets. Who is Mary Jordan? And why has someone left a coded message in an old book about her "unnatural" death? Once more, ingenuity and insight are called for as they are drawn into old mysteries and new dangers. 

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Arriving at New York City's Pennsylvania Station after a trip to Cuba, Sheila Bennet (Evelyn Keyes), who is smuggling $50,000 worth of diamonds into the country, realizes she's being followed by the authorities. She mails the diamonds to her husband, Matt Krane (Charles Korvin), instead of carrying them around, and then tries to shake the Treasury agent following her. Feeling sick, Sheila nearly faints on the street, so a cop takes her to a local clinic. While there, she encounters a little girl and inadvertently infects her. Sheila is misdiagnosed as having a common cold, and she leaves and returns home. After the girl is admitted to the hospital, she is found to have smallpox. Meanwhile, Matt has been cheating on Sheila with her sister, Francie (Lola Albright), and then attempts to take off without either of them when the diamonds finally arrive through the mail. Unfortunately for him, the fence cannot buy the diamonds because they are too hot. Matt will have to wait for ten days for the cash, so he cannot leave New York. Sheila confronts Francie, who kills herself afterward due to Matt's betrayal of them both. This gives Sheila more reason to get revenge on him. Finding a growing number of smallpox victims, city officials decide to vaccinate everyone in New York to prevent an epidemic, but quickly run out of serum. This causes a panic in the city. Tracking the victims, agents realize that the disease carrier and the diamond smuggler are one and the same. However, an increasingly sick Sheila continues to elude capture. Still unaware that she has smallpox, she returns to the doctor at the clinic to get more medicine. The doctor explains her illness and tries to talk her into turning herself in, but she shoots him in the shoulder and escapes. Sheila eventually catches up with Matt, who tries to escape from the police, but falls from a building ledge to his death. Sheila nearly attempts to drop herself from the ledge, until the doctor tells her the little girl she met had died. Remorseful, Sheila turns herself in and, before succumbing to the disease, provides authorities with a badly needed list of those she contacted. 

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The pilot centers on Harry Broderick (Andy Griffith) who owns the Jettison Scrap and Salvage Co. and is a specialist in reclaiming trash and junk to sell as scrap. His dream is to recover equipment left on the Moon during Apollo Program missions. In the show's opening title narration, Harry states: > "I wanna build a spaceship, go to the Moon, salvage all the junk that's up > there, bring it back and sell it." He invites the former astronaut Addison "Skip" Carmichael (Joel Higgins) and NASA fuel expert Melanie "Mel" Slozar (Trish Stewart) to assist him in this effort. During Slozar's fuel experiments, the Federal Bureau of Investigation becomes concerned over the purchases of chemicals. Broderick and his ragtag crew complete their mission and go on to further adventures in the subsequent series. A recurring subplot drives numerous attempts to find the appropriate explosive mixture to break an iceberg from the Arctic Shelf, to be transported to the California coast as a source of fresh water. Richard Jaeckel had a recurring role as Jack Klinger, the FBI agent tasked with keeping an eye on Broderick and his associates. Their relationship is generally rocky, but the Salvage crew fly to his rescue when he is captured during a mission to a Latin American dictatorship. 

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Inspired by The Baby-Sitters Club series of novels, Lisa decides to become a babysitter, but no one takes her seriously because of her age. When Maude is taken hostage in Lebanon, Ned must leave suddenly to get her released. In his haste, he agrees to let Lisa babysit Rod and Todd. Ned puts out the good word for Lisa, who experiences a business boom. Inspired by the success of Baltimore's revamped wharf, the Springfield Squidport reopens and throws a gala. Homer and Marge attend, leaving Lisa to babysit Bart and Maggie. Bart is upset that his younger sister is his babysitter; Lisa thinks his childish antics warrant it. Bart torments Lisa by having a giant submarine sandwich delivered, hiring Krusty for a bachelor party, claiming that Lisa saw a UFO, dialing for a "sisterectomy", and feeding Maggie coffee ice cream for dinner. Bart's pranks anger Lisa so much that she lunges at him, causing him to fall down the stairs, dislocating his shoulder and causing a large bump on his head. Bart realizes if Lisa fails to take him to a nearby hospital, her reputation as a babysitter will be ruined. To make his condition worse, Bart locks himself in his room and repeatedly hits his head on the door, eventually knocking himself unconscious. Lisa tries to call for an ambulance, but the operator refuses to assist her due to Bart's earlier prank calls. Lisa considers asking Dr. Hibbert for help, but realizes that would ruin her reputation as a babysitter. Instead she takes Bart to Dr. Nick Riviera's clinic in a wheelbarrow, bringing Maggie along in a pet carrier because the coffee ice cream has overstimulated her. Lisa is unable to see the doctor due to a long queue in the waiting room. Frantic, Lisa tries to wheel Bart and Maggie to the hospital. She loses control of the wheelbarrow and it rolls down a cliff into a muddy river -- in front of aghast onlookers at the Squidport. The crowd assumes Lisa is on drugs, has murdered Bart, and is about to drown the caged Maggie, and accuse her of bad babysitting. Later, Bart, whose injuries have been treated, apologizes to Lisa for causing the ordeal and ruining her babysitting business. She forgives him, but feels bad for being called the "World's Worst Babysitter". Much to her delight, she receives babysitting requests from Hibbert and Ned because they cannot find any other sitters. 

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Exultant is set in Baxter's "Xeelee Sequence" twenty thousand years into the Third Expansion of Mankind, "a titanic project undertaken by a mankind united by the Doctrines forged by Hama Druz after mankind's near extinction." The human-supremacist Interim Coalition of Governance has conquered almost the whole Milky Way — all but the alien Xeelee concentrated at the galactic core around a supermassive black hole called Chandra. The mysterious Xeelee are far more advanced but less numerous than the humans, and the war has been at a stalemate for three millennia even though the entire Coalition has been directed toward the war effort and ten billion humans die at the front every year. In a war fought with faster-than-light technology (equivalent to time travel), each side has foreknowledge of the other's actions and can develop counter-measures to plans before they are made. Pirius is a fighter pilot stationed at the front. When a battle turns to disaster for the Coalition forces, he disobeys suicide orders to stand and fight, choosing instead to risk survival. In a desperate gamble to outrun a pursuing Xeelee, Pirius captures a Xeelee fighter for the first time in history. Returning to base via FTL travel, he arrives two years previous to the battle, when his younger self is still a cadet. Rather than being lauded as a hero, both instances of Pirius are court-martialed for disobeying orders. Commissary Nilis of the Office of Technological Archival and Control, part of the Commission for Historical Truth, defends both the older Pirius (whom he calls "Pirius Blue") and the younger one ("Pirius Red") but loses the trial. Pirius Blue is sent to a penal unit at the front as a foot soldier, and Pirius Red is remanded to the custody of Commissary Nilis, who has plans for the fruits of Pirius Blue's battlefield victory. Using the Xeelee fighter and the innovative tactics that saved Pirius Blue, he starts to plan an unheard of assault on the Xeelee's primary stronghold at Chandra itself. While Nilis and his new team struggle to confront ossified government and military institutions, they try to understand and to develop new and sometimes alien technologies: FTL computers, a gravastar shield to protect them from FTL foreknowledge, and a black hole gun, capable of disrupting a supermassive black hole's event horizon. Meanwhile, in the course of his new duties to Commissary Nilis, Pirius Red is practically taken on a tour of the Solar system and some of the Coalition's most scandalous secrets, rife with references to events from previous books in the Xeelee sequence. As Nilis's project nears completion, it transpires that the Chandra black hole is home to not only the Xeelee, but a host of other organisms, many of which are based on exotic physics and non- baryonic matter. Regardless, the assault on the black hole continues despite protestations from Nilis. After a brutal fight to reach the surface of the black hole, the team commence their assault, causing the Xeelee to abandon it (and the rest of the Milky Way galaxy) to prevent humanity from harming the black hole's inhabitants. After the assault, the protagonists realise that the Coalition is unlikely to remain intact, now that the war with the Xeelee is no longer present to hold it together. Luru Parz, one of the team, realises that the Xeelee will eventually return, and returns to Earth to ready its defences for when the return happens. 

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After Reverend Lovejoy's sermon bores his congregation, Marge voices her concern over his lack of enthusiasm about helping people. Lovejoy explains that his passion faded as he dealt with Ned Flanders' constant trivial problems. Marge begins working for the Church as the "Listen Lady", listening to people's problems and helping solve them. Lovejoy realizes his inadequacy and feels depressed; visions of the saints chastise him for doing little to inspire his congregation. Homer takes Bart and Lisa to the Springfield dump to dispose of their Christmas tree, where they find a box of Japanese dishwasher detergent, Mr. Sparkle, whose mascot clearly resembles Homer. Disturbed, Homer contacts the manufacturer in Hokkaidō, Japan. Homer is sent a promotional video that reveals that the mascot is a result of a joint venture between two conglomerates, whose mascots, a fish and a lightbulb, merge to form Mr. Sparkle; the similarity to Homer is a mere coincidence. Ned calls Marge for help: the delinquents Jimbo, Dolph and Kearney, are loitering outside his store, the Leftorium. At her suggestion, he tries to shoo them away, but they harass him. Ned calls Marge again, but when the bullies cut the phone cord, Marge assumes that Ned has hung up and that everything is fine. The next morning, Maude informs Marge that Ned is missing. Marge goes to Lovejoy for help, and they track Ned to the zoo, where Japanese tourists think Homer is Mr. Sparkle. Lovejoy rescues Ned from the baboon enclosure and rediscovers his passion for his career, regaling his congregation with the tale of Ned's rescue. 

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The film features scenes of Laurer and Waltman taking a guided tour of China, intercut with footage of the pair participating in explicit anal, vaginal, and oral sex acts, with special emphasis on an anal sex scene, which serves as the climax of the film. Waltman admits to being under the influence of methamphetamine and marijuana during much of the film. 

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Beauregard Bottomley is a polymath who lives in Los Angeles with his piano-instructor sister Gwenn and an alcohol-guzzling parrot they found named Caesar. Beauregard is knowledgeable on any subject—except how to hold a job. In front of a store window, Beauregard and Gwenn watch a quiz show, Masquerade for Money, hosted by Happy Hogan, and sponsored by Milady Soap. Each contestant dresses up in a particular costume in which their costume determines the type of questions asked, with the prize money doubling with each correct answer, starting at $5 and reaching up to a maximum of $160. A contestant can quit anytime, but an incorrect response results in no money won, only in a reward of the consolation prize of Milady Soap. Beauregard is contemptuous of the show. A representative of the State of California Department of Employment encourages Beauregard to interview for a job at the Milady Soap Company, which he does. Beauregard meets the company's eccentric owner, Burnbridge Waters, who disapproves of Beauregard's humor and rejects him. To get even, Beauregard enters "Masquerade for Money" as a contestant, dressed as an encyclopedia, and because he does, and consistent with the rules of the show, the host can ask him about anything. Before the questions begin, Happy starts to praise the qualities of Milady Soap, but Beauregard says that it works just like any other soap, outraging Waters. Beauregard easily answers correctly the maximum six questions, then requests one more, which he also answers correctly, earning $320. Beauregard turns down the money and asks to return next week. Waters decides to invite Beauregard back for one question per show for six weeks and heavily publicizes it. During that time, "Masquerade for Money" tops the ratings, and sales of Milady Soap skyrocket. At the end of that time, Waters approves of giving Beauregard an impossibly hard question, but when Beauregard answers it correctly, Waters becomes uneasy. Happy offers to take piano lessons from Gwenn to try to find a weakness in Beauregard. Beauregard sees through the scheme, but Gwenn sneaks out on a date with Happy anyway. When Gwenn tells Happy that she and her brother think that he is just trying to get information from her, he admits that he is but also says that he is glad to have met her. Gwenn tells Happy that Beauregard intends to win $40 million, to take everything that Waters has. Happy tells Waters, who cancels the show and sends Beauregard a check for his current winnings ($40,000), which Beauregard refuses to accept. Following the series' cancellation, sales for Milady Soap plummet, forcing Waters to reinstate the show. Beauregard reaches $10 million. Waters calls in a scheming "Flame" O'Neill to distract Beauregard. Beauregard catches a cold from being in a driving rainstorm, so Flame pretends to be a nurse to him. Beauregard is aware of, but nevertheless quickly succumbs to, Flame's charms (as does Waters). Flame breaks her dinner date with Beauregard to undermine his self-confidence and peace of mind. The night of the show, Beauregard reveals that he (supposedly) never mastered Albert Einstein's "space-time theories". The next question is, of course, about Einstein's views of space-time. Realizing Flame has betrayed him, Beauregard initially struggles but eventually comes up with an answer. Happy says that Beauregard's answer is incorrect and intends to reward him the consolation prize of Milady Soap. However, Einstein himself calls on the telephone before the end of the show to say that Beauregard's answer is correct, whereupon Happy acknowledges on-air that Beauregard's answer is correct after all. Afterward, Beauregard confronts Flame, who has fallen for him. Unaware of Flame's supposed newly found fondness for him, Beauregard spanks her with her hairbrush and informs her that he deliberately misled her, that he actually "spent an entire season with Einstein", but also admits that he fell madly in love with her. Waters books the Hollywood Bowl for the last show. Happy and Gwenn, and Beauregard and Flame, each plan to marry. Beauregard and Gwenn caution each other that their would-be spouses could be just after the money. Each calls and suggests marrying before the show, but Happy and Flame each come up with excuses. For the final question, Happy asks Beauregard what his Social Security number is. Beauregard answers incorrectly. After the show, to the joy of Beauregard and Gwenn, Flame and Happy still want to marry them. Waters shows up at Beauregard's home, bearing gifts, including champagne. (Caesar used to be Waters' pet.) As Beauregard and Flame drive to Las Vegas to get married, Beauregard reveals that he and Waters had made a deal in which Beauregard would lose in exchange for getting his own radio show, some stock, and other considerations. Beauregard was motivated to make such a deal because two T men had signaled their intent to tax a significant amount of his winnings. Beauregard then admits that he actually did not know the answer. 

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On March 13, 1954, a passenger plane crashes in Japan, killing all but one passenger: a woman who is nine months pregnant. Ultimately she dies in a hospital, but her unborn daughter is saved. However, for a reason inexplicable by the science of the day, the daughter (named Yumi) does not wake up and is essentially in a comatose state. Her wealthy father has her placed in a hospital where she will be cared for indefinitely (and also offers a reward to anyone who can wake her) while he vanishes in search of a cure to her condition. Seven years later (March 25, 1961) Yuichi (a boy who is roughly seven himself) is admitted to the same hospital (with asthma) and discovers Yumi. After being told of her condition and then reading the story of Sleeping Beauty, he resolves to awaken Yumi by kissing her. Saying, "Wake up, I'm the prince," he kisses her on the lips. This has no effect, but Yuichi is undeterred, and makes a routine of this, even after he leaves the hospital, repeating the same line and kissing her. Although a nurse finds this "cute" and lets him continue, when Doctor Hikawa discovers his actions, he ejects Yuichi from the hospital, infuriated that Yuichi believes that he can awaken the girl, whom he himself could not awaken with all the powers of medical science. For the next ten years Yuichi does not visit the hospital at all, until February 14, 1972 when he sees a new report on Yumi who, after 17 years, has still never awoken. Overcome by the memories of his childhood, Yuichi returns to the hospital, and although initially thwarted by a new (apparently American) nurse, he eventually resumes his ten-year-old routine, with similarly little results, although more genuine emotion. Doctor Hikawa - now a Director of the Hospital - gradually becomes aware of his actions. After Yuichi accidentally kisses a girl at school as part of an elaborate setup on the part of his friends, he rushes to the hospital (it would appear he considered it an act of infidelity) despite the rain and late hour, and passionately kisses Yumi. He does not use the "Wake up, I'm the prince" line, but instead begs her (apparently in his thoughts), stating, "I'm no prince, I'm Yuichi Nasagawa, but please wake up, I want to talk to you." Though it would appear to have no effect at first, as Yuichi is leaving he notices some movement, and then he realises that Yumi has indeed awoken. Promptly, the silent Yumi is besieged by a team of doctors and nurses who start to run series of tests, essentially ignoring and shutting out Yuichi. Yuichi, seeing that Yumi has been revived only to become some sort of human guinea pig, abducts her. Although Yumi has the mentality of a baby (even lacking the ability to walk or talk) they have a mutually enjoyable time together, until Yumi is reminded* of the crash-site in which her mother died, and is returned to the hospital by orderlies. Yumi is seen in bed, at night, with her eyes open; Yumi does not sleep at all any more. The next day (the "second day" that Yumi is awake), Yumi has advanced to the mentality of a young child, able to speak and read, and also an amazing talent for photo-realistic art, as she draws the image of her father. Yuichi returns after school and is immediately recognised by Yumi. They (this time by mutual consent, and accompanied by orderlies) walk outside in the grounds of the hospital. Upon sighting a bus (which Yumi seems to want to ride) Yuichi decides to give the orderlies (who have the air of cartoon comic-relief thugs to them) the slip, and does so successfully. They have an enjoyable "date" together (although Yumi is still only capable of conversing in simple terms). By the third day Yumi has been discovered by the media and is being paraded all over for the press. Yuichi, Yuichi's nurse (who retired), and Yumi's father all witness the report on TV. Yuichi, once more, decides of his own accord that this is not "right" (although unlike when she was being tested, Yumi can clearly be seen to be distressed by many of the questions about her own genesis) and abducts Yumi once more. By this time Yumi has acquired the vocal and cognitive abilities approximately the same as other girls her age. Yumi and Yuichi have their first conversation as intellectual equals. Yumi asks several philosophical questions about life and death. She declares that she only has two more days left before she falls asleep again (she gives no explanation as to how she acquired this knowledge, but she simply has it). Overall, she only has five days to be awake. She goes on to inquire about a strange emotion she has when she thinks of someone. After hearing the description, Yuichi explains the emotion is probably love. Yumi declares that, therefore, she is in love with Doctor Hikawa, shattering Yuichi. Yuichi comes to the conclusion that someone told Yumi that she could only be awake for five days while she was asleep, and as such she believes it, but it is not true. He urges Hikawa to marry Yumi, as Yumi apparently loves him, and Yuichi's primary concern is Yumi's happiness. Hikawa does not believe in the five-day limit either, or that Yumi really loves him. Yumi hears their conversation through the door and is herself, heart-broken. She attempts to commit suicide by jumping off a cliff, but she is stopped by Yuichi. On the fourth day, Yuichi's old nurse returns to the hospital to see Yumi, who is now in a state of depression. After hearing the story from Yuichi, she reveals that Hikawa had been doing something sexual to her at night, and that she left the hospital upon discovering this. Yuichi is infuriated, he confronts Hikawa and punches him, knocking him to the floor. Hikawa does not get up, but simply talks, his head lying down, not facing anything, of how Yumi was abandoned by her parents, and God. She was left only with him, but he was unable to help her. He explains that it was because he was unwilling to admit his impotency that he did what he did. Yuichi returns to Yumi. Yumi explains that she heard someone, for a long time, praying for her to wake up, and then felt something that made her feel very warm. She thought this was Doctor Hikawa, and as such, that she loved him. Yuichi kisses her, and she realises the kiss was what made her warm, and by extension, it was Yuichi who prayed to her, and he whom she loved all along. They continue to kiss, and presumably make love. The same night they announce to Yuichi's mother that they are getting married. On the fifth and final day of the film, Yuichi and Yumi are wed. Although Yumi's father watches and is happy to see that his daughter has found happiness, he does not reveal himself, but simply leaves once more, content. Hikawa arrives after the wedding and speaks alone to Yuichi about the fifth day limit. While he maintains that it is simply autosuggestion, he reminds Yuichi that it is real for Yumi. When Yuichi asks what to do, all Hikawa can suggest is prayer. That night as Yumi and Yuichi depart on their honeymoon on a train, Yumi states, "I will be with Yuichi forever," and that she remembers everything about him, even in sleep, going on to list all the things they did together. Yumi's speech is rather bittersweet. Despite the fact she appears genuinely happy at moments, she is also on the verge of tears. Yuichi has a similar mix of anxiety and sorrow. Yumi inquires if Yuichi believes in God. Yuichi replies, that if God is the one who only allows her to be awake for five days, then he does not believe in him. Yumi says she will tell God that the world is "very big," paraphrasing something Yuichi told her before. Finally, she states she will thank God for meeting Yuichi as well, and then she drifts off to sleep. Yuichi tries to wake her, eventually even resorting to the sleeping-beauty kiss. Yumi opens her eyes briefly and says, "I… am… happy," before falling asleep once more, forever. Twenty seven years later (August 7, 1999), an aged Yuichi, now a scientist, returns home from work and talks to his wife. Yumi, herself aged, but not dramatically (her hair has greyed, but presumably her face has not wrinkled since she has not been moving) and still sleeps. As he is showing her a picture of a friend's son, he notices she has stopped breathing – Yumi is dead. As Yuichi watches the video of Yumi talking to the press (before he, in his youth, liberates her – i.e. the third day) he explains by monologue that after her death he had an autopsy performed on Yumi. When her brain was removed, it was completely transparent, and beautiful. He believes that although she was only awake for five days, she was happier than anyone else. The film ends, replaying the earlier footage of Yumi and Yuichi running from the press. Yumi happily calls, "Yuichi!" and he retorts, "The world is very big, Yumi." 

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Joe Waters (Joe Pesci) and Gus Green (Danny Glover) are bumbling yet happy best friends who live modestly in Newark, New Jersey and have known each other since childhood. They share the hobby of fishing and win a stay in the Florida Everglades to go angling, but promise to return home in time for Thanksgiving. On the way, however, while stopping at a restaurant, they meet an Englishman, Martin (Nick Brimble), who discreetly steals Joe's car keys and leaves. Joe and Gus are forced to push their boat down the road until they are met by two women, Rita (Rosanna Arquette) and Angie (Lynn Whitfield), who are after Martin and offer them a lift. During the ride, a bump causes the boat to disconnect from the car, leaving Joe and Gus stranded yet again, and the boat is accidentally hooked to a train and pulled away along with their beer and supplies. Joe and Gus hitch a ride with two men, but on the way, they see their car at a gas station and investigate. Joe goes to confront Martin inside the bathroom, but backs down when he catches Martin loading a gun. Joe and Gus flee the petrol station in their car, and discover a blood-stained knife in the dashboard. Joe and Gus stay at a trailer park for the night, and while watching a documentary on television, they learn that Martin is actually Dekker Massey, a wanted criminal who has conned several women out of their riches and is implied to have stabbed his last victim to death and hidden her money and jewelry somewhere. The presenters offer a bounty for Dekker's capture, and Joe and Gus decide to turn in the knife after their fishing trip. Meanwhile, Dekker begins hunting Joe and Gus down. Following a recommendation by the trailer park owner, Joe and Gus visit Phil Beasly's boatyard and rent a speedboat, but end up breaking almost every gadget on the boat, losing the knife and wrecking the boatyard by accident. Distraught, they decide to return home early, but end up with a flat tire. While getting the spare tire from the trunk, Joe discovers a map that leads to Dekker's fortune. They book a room in a nearby hotel, and while having dinner, they are found by Rita and Angie, who question them about Dekker and reveal that they are after him because Rita's mother was one of Dekker's victims. Joe and Gus promise to bring Dekker to justice, but that night, Gus sleepwalks and starts a fire in the hotel, destroying their suite and the map. They only barely manage to escape undetected, though their car breaks down on the road and Joe is struck by lightning while they try to fix it. Instead of killing him, the lightning boosts Joe's memory and he is able to lead the way to the cave where Dekker hid his fortune. Despite an altercation with an alligator, they retrieve the treasure and escape, but are accosted by Dekker. At gunpoint, Dekker forces them to push Joe's car into the swamp and ties them up inside a sheriff's office, intending to flee the country with the treasure. After Dekker leaves, however, Joe and Gus are found and freed by their idol, Billy "Catch" Pool (Willie Nelson), and they set out to stop Dekker. After a long chase across the swamp, Joe and Gus find and capture Dekker moments before his escape via plane and hand him over to the police. Though they claim the reward money, Joe and Gus are forced to spend it mostly on the damages they caused during their trip. 

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Damien Har Veris — a priest skilled in resolving heretical disputes efficiently, although now spiritually exhausted — is sent by his alien archbishop as Knight Inquisitor to deal with a particular sect that has made a saint of Judas Iscariot. The sect follows a religious text, The Way of Cross and Dragon, that radically revises the life of Iscariot and his place in Christianity. The text describes how, born of a prostitute, Iscariot mastered the dark arts to become a tamer of dragons and the ruler of a great empire. After torturing and maiming Christ, Iscariot repented and relinquished his empire to become the penitent Legs of Christ, the first and best-beloved of the Twelve Apostles. Returning from proselytizing to find Christ crucified, an enraged Iscariot then destroyed the perpetrating empire and strangled St. Peter for renouncing Christ, only to discover, too late, Christ's Resurrection. Rejecting Judas' violence, Christ restored St. Peter to life and gave him the keys of the kingdom. St. Peter then suppressed the truth about Judas, vilifying his name and exploits. Seeking redemption for his wrath, Iscariot became the thousand-year-old Wandering Jew, before finally rejoining Christ in the Kingdom of God. Perusing the materials of the sect, Har Veris finds himself enjoying the fanciful, creative but ultimately ridiculous narrative, finding it far more interesting than the more mundane heresies that have developed around power, money and doctrinal quibbles. Arriving on the sect's distant planet on board his ship, the Truth of Christ, Har Veris confronts its heresiarch, Lukyan Judasson, creator of the Way of Cross and Dragon narrative, but finds that he is already expected. Questioning Judasson, Har Veris uncovers a conspiracy of nihilistic Liars, who see Truth as entropy and despair, and who wish to soften and color the ultimately meaningless lives of others by creating belief in carefully crafted Lies. In essence, they create faiths. They have perpetrated this Judas cult as well as others, and now want Har Veris to join them. Despite his own spiritual exhaustion, he realizes that, though he may be losing his faith, he has not lost his passion for truth. When he refuses to join the Liars, Judasson wishes to have him silenced, but his senior in the conspiracy, a misshapen psionic mutant, senses the impending Liar in Har Veris, and allows him to go. Har Veris then uses political manipulation and the public's fear and distrust of psychic powers to turn the tide on the Judas cult, resolving yet another heresy with dispatch. When, much later, he fully acknowledges that he has lost his faith, his superior is indifferent: results are what is needed, and Har Veris is to continue in his role as inquisitor. The priest accepts this, realizing that the psychic was right: he is himself a consummate Liar, perpetuating a faith in which he no longer believes. However, departing on his next Inquisition, he has named his new starship Dragon. 

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Zadig, a good-hearted, handsome young man from Babylonia, is in love with Sémire and they are to marry. Sémire, however, has another suitor: Orcan, who wants her for himself. Zadig tries to defend his love from Orcan's threat, but his eye is injured in the process. Sémire abhors this injury, causing her to depart with his enemy. Shortly after, Zadig makes a full recovery and falls into the arms of another woman, Azora, whom he marries, but who promptly betrays him. Disillusioned with women, Zadig turns to science, but his knowledge lands him in prison, the first of several injustices to befall him. Indeed, the conte derives its pace and rhythm from the protagonist's ever-changing fortunes which see him rise to great heights and fall to great lows. Upon his release from prison, Zadig rises in favour with the king and queen of Babylonia and is eventually appointed prime minister; in this role, he proves himself to be a very honest man, looked upon favourably by the king, as he passes fair judgements on his citizens unlike the other ministers who base their judgements on the people's wealth. He is forced to flee the kingdom, though, when his relationship with King Moabdar is compromised: Zadig's reciprocated love for queen Astarté is discovered and he worries that the king's desire for revenge might drive him to kill the queen. Having reached Egypt, Zadig kills an Egyptian man while valiantly saving a woman from his attack on her. Under the law of the land, this crime means that he must become a slave. His new master, Sétoc, is soon impressed by Zadig's wisdom and they become friends. In one incident, Zadig manages to reverse an ancient custom of certain tribes in which women felt obliged to burn themselves alive with their husbands on the death of the latter. After attempting to resolve other religious disputes, Zadig enrages local clerics who attempt to have him killed. Fortunately for him, though, a woman that he saved (Almona) from being burned intervenes so that he avoids death. Almona marries Sétoc, who in turn gives Zadig his freedom and then he begins his journey back to Babylonia in order to discover what has become of Astarté. (In some versions there is a further episode in which he visits Serendib and advises the king on the choice of a treasurer and a wife.) En route, he is taken captive by a group of Arabs, from whom he learns that king Moabdar has been killed, but he does not learn anything of what has become of Astarté. Arbogad, the leader of the group of Arabs, sets him free and he heads for Babylonia once more, equipped with the knowledge that a rebellion has taken place to oust the king. On this journey he meets an unhappy fisherman who is about to commit suicide as he has no money, but Zadig gives him some money to ease his woes, telling us that source of his own unhappiness is in his heart, whereas the fisherman's are only financial concerns. Zadig prevents him from committing suicide and he continues on his way. Zadig then stumbles upon a meadow in which women are searching for a basilisk for their lord who is ill, ordered by his doctor to find one of these rare animals to cure his sickness. The lord has promised to marry the woman who finds the basilisk. While there, Zadig sees a woman writing "ZADIG" in the ground, and he identifies her as Astarté. His former lover recounts what happened to her since Zadig fled Babylonia: she lived inside a statue when he left, but one day, she spoke while her husband was praying before the statue. The king's country was invaded and both Astarté and his new wife, Missouf, were taken prisoners by the same group. The king's wife agrees to formulate a plan along with Astarté to help her escape so that she would not have a rival for the king. Astarté ends up with Arbogad, the very same robber that Zadig encountered, who then sold her to Lord Ogul, her current master. In order to secure Astarté's release from Ogul, Zadig pretends to be a physician. He offers Lord Ogul to bring him a basilisk if he grants Astarté her freedom; instead of providing the basilisk, the lord is tricked into taking some exercise, which is what he really needs to cure him from his illness. Astarté returns to Babylonia where she is pronounced queen before a competition begins to find her a new king. Zadig is secretly given white armor and a fine horse to compete with by Astarté. Zadig in his white armor triumphs in the contest which takes place between four anonymous knights, but one of the losing competitors, the lord Itobad, steals Zadig's armour and replaces it with his own before the winner is revealed, and dressed in Zadig's armor falsely claims victory. Zadig is forced to wear Itobad's armor and is recognized as the losing knight by the people. Zadig is ridiculed and bemoans his fate, thinking that he will never be happy. While wandering on the banks of the Euphrates, Zadig encounters a hermit reading "the book of destinies". Zadig makes a vow to accompany the hermit for the next few days on the condition that he won't abandon the hermit no matter what he does. The hermit claims that he will teach Zadig lessons in life; in one such incident, the pair go to an opulent castle and are treated generously. The lord of the castle gives each of them a gold piece before sending them off. After leaving, Zadig finds that the hermit has stolen the gold basin that the lord allowed them to wash in. Afterwards, they visit the house of a miser and are treated somewhat rudely by the servant and are pushed to leave, but the hermit gives the servant the two gold pieces from the lord and gives the miser the gold basin he stole. The aim, he tells Zadig, is that the hospitable man at the castle will learn not to be as ostentatious and vain, and the miser will learn how to treat guests. They then arrive at the simple home of a retired philosopher who welcomed the travelers in. The philosopher talks of the fight for the crown in Babylonia, revealing that he wished Zadig had fought for the crown not knowing that Zadig is one of his two guests. In the morning, at dawn, the hermit wakes Zadig to leave. To Zadig's horror, the hermit sets fire to the philosopher's home. In the last encounter, Zadig and the hermit stay with a widow and her young nephew. After their stay the boy accompanies the travelers to the bridge by the widow's orders. At the bridge, the hermit asks the boy to come to him. He then throws the fourteen- year-old into the river drowning him, as he claims that Providence tells that he would have killed his aunt within a year, and Zadig within two. The hermit then reveals his true identity as the angel Jesrad, and opines that Zadig, out of all men, deserves to be best informed about Fate. Jesrad states that wickedness is necessary to maintain the order of the world and to ensure that good survives. Nothing happens by chance, according to the angel: Zadig happened upon the fisherman to save his life, for example. Zadig should be submissive to Fate, he continues, and should return to Babylonia, advice which he follows. (Surprisingly, regarding Voltaire's hostility towards religions, this passage is based on one of the suras of the Quran (Sura 18 (Al-Kahf), v. 65–82), when Moses follows a mysterious character, endowed with great knowledge, through his journey.)Pierre Larcher, "Voltaire, Zadig et le Coran". On his return, the final part of the challenge to be king is taking place: the Enigmas. Zadig solves the Enigmas with consummate ease and proves that it was he that won the first contest by challenging Itobad once again to a duel. Zadig offers to fight wearing only his robes and armed with a sword against Itobad clad in the stolen white armor. Itobad accepts this challenge. Zadig manages to defeat Itobad, and takes back the stolen armor. Zadig marries Astarté, is crowned king, and rules over a prosperous kingdom. 

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The film takes place in a small suburb where new student, Violet Jacobs, finds herself dealing with a social hierarchy. When things go bad, she recruits the help of a new friend, and editor of the paper, Cornelia Nixon. Together they create a tabloid called THE TATTLER. It has stories on all the "A-List" kids in the school. But things take a turn for the worse when power hungry Cornelia writes a false story about Brandon, Violet's crush. The story ends when the tabloid is crushed by Violet blackmailing Cornelia with evidence of a plastic surgery she had long ago. Then a retraction is published for all the people who got hurt. 

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During World War II, all Allied and Axis service personnel that end up in Ireland are to be interned for the duration of the conflict. Two pilots, one from the Royal Canadian Air Force (portrayed by Campbell) and one from the Luftwaffe (portrayed by Macfadyen), both fall in love with a local Irish girl, played by Butler. The relationship is further complicated by Byrne, who plays the unceasingly vigilant internment camp commander. 

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The story revolves around , the son of Japanese zoologist and well-born Englishwoman Patricia Keaton. Keaton's parents separated when he was five, and young Taichi moved back to England with his mother. As an adult, he studied archeology at Oxford University, in part under the tutelage of Professor Yuri Scott. At Oxford, Keaton met and later married his wife, who was a mathematics student at Somerville College. The couple years later divorced, with Keaton leaving his five-year-old daughter in her mother's care. After leaving Oxford, Keaton joined the British Army and became a member of the SAS, holding the post of survival instructor and seeing combat in the Falklands War and as one of the team members that responded to the Iranian Embassy incident. His combat training serves him in good stead as an insurance investigator for the prestigious Lloyd's of London where he is known for his abilities and his unorthodox methods of investigation. In addition to his work for Lloyd's, Keaton and his friend Daniel O'Connell operate their own insurance investigation agency headquartered in London. Even though Keaton is extremely successful as an insurance investigator, his dream is to continue his archaeological research into the possible origins of an ancient European civilization in the Danube River basin. 

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The film centers on the experiences of several teenagers at Camp Ovation, a summer theatre camp. The campers are a mishmash of youngsters from different backgrounds, dealing with different issues, but all feel most comfortable while performing. School is out, and the campers reunite as they prepare to board the buses to Camp Ovation. Shy, self-conscious Ellen Lucas happily greets her friends, recovering from an embarrassing situation where she desperately tried to land a prom date, and ended up asking her brother. Nerdy Fritzi Wagner attempts to befriend icy diva Jill Simmons, but ends up toting her luggage instead. Returning camper Jenna Malloran laments that her parents forced her to have her jaw wired shut in order to lose weight. Upon arrival to Camp Ovation, the kids settle in. Ellen converses with her friend Michael Flores, a gay teenager who was violently beaten by his classmates after showing up to his junior prom in drag. The campers are struck dumb with the arrival of Vlad Baumann, a handsome new camper who is, as a staff member marvels, "an honest-to-god straight boy." Camp Ovation puts on a new play or musical every two weeks. Vlad and Ellen bond after rehearsal one day and flirt a bit. However, soon afterward, Vlad is seduced by the conceited Jill, who later makes cruel cracks at Ellen for her weight and her inexperience with boys. Feeling guilty, Vlad comforts Ellen and the two begin to inch toward a relationship. The camp enlists a guest counselor for the summer: composer Bert Hanley, whose play "The Children's Crusade" was a one-hit wonder many years earlier. Frustrated with his lack of recent success, he is now a grumpy alcoholic and shows up two days late at Camp Ovation. He constantly drinks on the camp grounds and is very irritated by Vlad, who idolizes him and attempts to strike up conversation. Jill shares a cabin with Fritzi, who is still catering to her every whim. However, after Fritzi is caught washing Jill's underwear, Jill expresses her disgust with Fritzi and kicks her out of the cabin. The usually meek Fritzi becomes filled with borderline psychotic rage, and sabotages Jill's next performance in "Company" by putting Woolite in her Snapple. As Jill vomits during her performance of "The Ladies Who Lunch," Fritzi shows up in costume and takes her place mid-song. She reveals herself to be a talented and passionate actress. Michael is rooming with Vlad, on whom he has developed a crush. Vlad convinces Michael to invite his parents to his next play, although his father is incredibly unsupportive of his homosexuality. Though his mother tells him they will come, Michael notices mid-performance that they did not. Crushed, he flees the stage. He is found later by Vlad, who explains that he too has his share of problems. Though Vlad is a seemingly normal, all- American teenager, he reveals to Michael that he suffers from an acute type of OCD, for which he is medicated. Hanley is angered after hearing Vlad play one of his songs, and begins to tell the campers that theater will only make them bitter and lonely, much like himself. Vlad follows a drunken Hanley back to his room and berates him for his cruel speech. After Hanley throws up and passes out, Vlad finds a trove of music that Hanley has written over the years but not released. During a rehearsal for the camp's benefit performance, Vlad and the campers sing "Century Plant", one of Hanley's songs. Hanley's heart is lifted and his disposition changes. Shortly before the benefit, Michael sleeps with Dee, Ellen's roommate, out of frustration about Vlad. When Vlad hears of this, he immediately asks Dee if it was true. Vlad and Dee end up making out on Dee's bed, and Ellen walks in on them. She runs off, hurt, and refuses to talk to Vlad. The night of the benefit concert arrives, and the campers are starstruck as famed composer Stephen Sondheim is in attendance. The dressing room atmosphere is tense, and gets even more awkward when Vlad's girlfriend Julie shows up to see him. Meanwhile, in another act of revenge, Fritzi sabotages Jill's makeup, causing her to break out in boils. Jill attacks her, injuring her, and both are unfit to go onstage. To replace her, Bert cuts the wires on Jenna's mouth, allowing her to sing a powerful song directed to her parents in the audience, telling them to accept her as she is. The benefit is a hit, but Vlad, Michael, and Ellen are still arguing. Vlad and Michael meet up by the lake, where Vlad strips down to gain Michael's attention. After being set straight by Michael, Vlad admits that he is an "attention junkie", and attempts to please everyone in order to gain their good favor. He apologizes to Michael for leading him on. Ellen arrives, and Vlad explains that he still cares about her, and that his girlfriend Julie had just broken up with him. After another apology, Ellen forgives him, and the three go swimming. During the end credits, the entire cast does an elaborate rendition of Todd Rundgren's "Want of a Nail". 

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Loosely picking up where Herbie Goes to Monte Carlo (1977) left off, protagonist Pete Stancheck (Stephan W. Burns) has inherited Herbie from his uncle Jim Douglas and travels to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico with his friend Davy "D.J." Johns (Charles Martin Smith) to retrieve the car. There, they befriend Paco (Joaquin Garay III), a comically mischievous, orphaned pickpocket. Pete and D.J. board the Sun Princess, a cruise ship, to Rio de Janeiro to enter Herbie in the Brazil Grand Prêmio, while Paco follows hidden in Herbie's cargo compartment. En route they meet an anthropology student named Melissa (Elyssa Davalos) and her extravagant, eccentric aunt Louise (Cloris Leachman), who is trying to find a husband for her niece. When Herbie wreaks havoc on board, Pete pretends to court Melissa, intending that her Aunt Louise will sponsor their race. Meanwhile, Herbie helps Paco, who has dubbed the car 'Ocho', escape captivity. When the ship's Captain Blythe (Harvey Korman) has his costume party wrecked by the boy and car, he has Herbie dropped into the sea. However, later on land, a rusty Herbie resurfaces from the water to reunite with Paco, who then goes into business with Herbie as a taxi. Thereafter follow three villains (John Vernon, Alex Rocco, and Richard Jaeckel) seeking to capture an antique gold disc, and to find Paco as earlier he had pickpocketed their wallets which contained important film by threatening to use an acetylene torch to cut up Herbie; Herbie's matador part in a bullfight; romance between Aunt Louise and Captain Blythe; and bananas initially used to conceal Herbie among farm vehicles traveling to market and later used by Herbie and Paco to stop the villains escaping justice by having them trip over bananas and Herbie wrecking their airplane to prevent them from getting away. The villains are captured by the police, and the protagonists re-unite on the Sun Princess. Pete and Davy resume their plans to enter Herbie in the Brazil Grand Prêmio with Paco dressed as the driver (Pete concedes that Paco and Herbie have a better connection than Pete would have if he drove Herbie in the race). Davy finally asks Paco why he keeps referring to Herbie as "Ocho", since that is Spanish for eight. Paco looks at Herbie's "53" and remarks that 5+3=8. After that Pete, Davy, Aunt Louise, and Melissa have a toast hoping for Herbie to win the race with Paco giving Herbie a thumbs up. 

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Dr. Bashir and Chief O'Brien have spent the past week helping two races, the T'Lani and the Kellerun, dismantle deadly biological weapons known as "Harvesters". They assure the T'Lani and Kellerun ambassadors that all files related to the Harvesters have been destroyed, so as to prevent them from ever being created again. When the moment comes to destroy the final Harvester, two Kellerun soldiers enter the laboratory and begin shooting the scientists, T'Lani and Kellerun alike. Bashir and O'Brien overpower the soldiers, but a drop of the Harvester liquid falls on O'Brien's skin. To escape, they are forced to beam down to the surface of the planet they are orbiting. The T'Lani and Kellerun ambassadors inform Commander Sisko that O'Brien and Bashir died in an accident, and provide a recording purportedly showing the deaths of the entire science team due to an automated security routine. The senior staff of Deep Space Nine grieve the loss of their crewmates, and Sisko informs O'Brien's wife Keiko of his death. Meanwhile, Bashir and O'Brien are stranded in an abandoned town on the planet's surface. O'Brien tries to repair a broken communications system in order to inform the T'Lani of the Kelleruns' apparent betrayal. Bashir discovers that O'Brien has been infected by the Harvester and, as O'Brien's condition begins to deteriorate, is forced to take over the repair effort. Keiko insists that the recording of the supposed accident has been falsified: the video shows O'Brien drinking coffee in the afternoon, something she is certain he would never do. Sisko and Lt. Dax travel in a runabout vessel to visit the site of the "accident", where Dax investigates O'Brien and Bashir's runabout and finds evidence that its logs have been altered. The T'Lani and Kellerun ambassadors show up together at Bashir and O'Brien's hideout. They reveal that the attack on the science team was a joint endeavor meant to erase all knowledge that could potentially be used to make Harvesters, and prepare to execute Bashir and O'Brien. Sisko and Dax rescue them by transporting them to their runabout. The T'Lani and Kellerun demand their return and fire upon the runabout when Sisko refuses; but Sisko deceives them by escaping safely in the other runabout. As Chief O'Brien recovers from the Harvester poisoning back on Deep Space Nine, Keiko is stunned to discover that he does drink coffee in the afternoon. 

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The show features a hillbilly cat called Punkin' Puss (voiced by Allan Melvin) who lives in a house in the woods of the southern US. Punkin' is preoccupied with a hillbilly mouse called Mushmouse (voiced by Howard Morris) who lives there too, and Punkin' frequently tries to shoot him with his rifle. In many cartoons, one of Mushmouse's cousins visits and gives Punkin' Puss a hard time. The "Nowhere Bear" has Punkin' Puss continually disrupting an angry bear's sleep. The episode "Small Change" has Punkin' Puss (and later a dog as well) shrinking to mouse size. 

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The novel is set in a dystopic Toronto, Ontario buffeted by a mysterious plague called sturnusemia, which is believed to be carried by starlings. Against this backdrop Lilah Kemp, a schizophrenic spiritualist "of intense but undisciplined powers", accidentally sets Kurtz free from page 92 of Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness and is forced to find a Marlow to defeat him. Kurtz becomes head of the Parkin Psychiatric Institute (based on the real Clarke Institute of Psychiatry) and travels among the city's elites, including a "Club of Men" which is in fact a child pornography ring. Marlow, meanwhile, is a staff psychiatrist at the Parkin. Although the reader is clearly meant to see the parallels between Findley's Kurtz and Marlow and Conrad's original characters, the book is deliberately ambiguous about whether Lilah Kemp has really performed this act of literary magic, or is merely crazy enough to think she has. 

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Don Henderson is a schoolteacher living with his wife Kath and baby son in the Melbourne suburb of Lower Plenty.Pat Dreverman, "Young will act out life's absurdities", Melbourne Age, 4 August 1971 p. 20 On the night of the 1969 federal election Don invites a small group of friends to celebrate a predicted Australian Labor Party (ALP) election victory, much to the dismay of his wife. To the party come Mal, Don’s university mentor, and his bitter wife Jenny, sex-obsessed Cooley and his latest girlfriend, nineteen-year-old Susan, Evan, a dentist, and his beautiful artist wife Kerry. Somehow, two Liberal supporters, Simon and Jody also come. As the party wears on it becomes clear that the Labor party, which is supported by Don and most of the guests, is not winning. As a result, alcohol consumption increases, and the sniping between Don and his male friends about their failed aspirations gets uglier, as does their behaviour toward the women. Mack, a design engineer whose wife has just left him, pulls out a nude photo of her for his friends' approval. Crass womaniser Cooley pursues the available women. The disillusioned wives exchange tales of their husbands' sub-par sexual performance. By the end of the night, Don and some of his friends have begun to grasp the emptiness of their compromised lives. The play led to a 2011 sequel, Don Parties On. 

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Cowboy drifter Jim Garry is summoned by his friend, smooth-talking Tate Riling. Garry rides into an Indian reservation and finds himself in the middle of a conflict between a cattle owner and some homesteaders. He meets cattle owner John Lufton, and eventually his daughters Amy and Carol. The Luftons suspect that Garry is on Riling's side and are initially hostile, especially Amy. Garry readily admits that he is going to work for his friend. Riling tells Garry that he and Indian agent Jake Pindalest have devised an elaborate scheme to force Lufton into selling his herd cheaply. Pindalest has gotten the government to order Lufton to remove his cattle from the reservation in a week. Meanwhile, Riling has organized the homesteaders into blocking the move, conning them into believing that he is working in their best interests. With no other option, Lufton would have to sell his herd at bargain prices or lose everything. Lufton would never sell to Riling, but he would to a stranger like Garry. Pindalest would then see that the government buys the herd at an inflated price. Garry would get $10,000 for his part in the swindle. Lufton manages to outsmart Riling and move his herd unimpeded, but Riling and his men cause the cattle to stampede and scatter back onto the reservation. It would take several days to gather the herd, more time than Lufton has before the deadline. Garry becomes disgusted when a young man is killed in the stampede, and he switches sides. Amy still does not trust him. She suspects Garry of betraying the contents of a letter to Riling, unaware that Carol is enamored with Riling and is the one passing information to him. Eventually, Amy comes to trust (and fall in love with) Garry, especially after he defends her father from two of Riling's men. To buy time, Garry persuades Pindalest, who is unaware of his break with Riling, to send a messenger to the government to extend the deadline. Garry then takes Pindalest prisoner. Riling and his gang track them down. Garry flees to the cabin of Kris Barden, the father of the young man killed in the stampede; they are joined by Amy. A gunfight erupts. Though wounded earlier, Garry sneaks out at night, dispatches Riling's men and knocks out Pindalest. Then he and his old friend face each other. Riling is fatally wounded. Pindalest is taken into custody, and Garry decides to give up his wandering ways, much to Amy's delight. 

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The story begins following the first day of Dixie Mae Leigh's job as a customer support employee at a fictional company called Lotsatech. She receives an insulting and mysterious email and, in a fit of rage, decides to find out who sent it. She and a fellow employee Victor search the Lotsatech campus looking for the author of the email, following clues in the email header. They meet up with Ellen, a grad student in computer science, who decides to try to help Dixie Mae. While they talk, several mysteries arise and convince them that the email may be a kind of warning about something going on at Lotsatech involving a professor named Gerry Reich, who seems to be involved in all the projects on the campus. Ellen finds another clue in the email leading the three to another building where, to their utter astonishment, a second Ellen appears. The only explanation of this is that they are being simulated by a computer. Further clues from another person in the building lead them to an underground lab where they find two researchers working on improving methods of producing and preserving Bose–Einstein condensates. When Dixie Mae and the Ellens reveal that they are all actually simulations, the researchers explore the email and find a clue that leads them to a 'cookie', a file that is passed from each iteration to the next with messages from the centuries of time they have been simulated over and over. They also find out that it was actually Dixie Mae herself who wrote the email in order to make it as offensive as possible to herself, allowing each iteration of the researchers to access the cookie. The story ends with a sad Dixie Mae realizing she can't do anything herself to stop the endless cycle they are all in, but through the passing of information and ideas from one iteration to the next someday they will have the ability to stop the simulations. 

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Some 400,000,000 years after an advanced human civilization was destroyed by aliens, 12 direct descendants of the civilization's warriors (called "Sazers") have their powers awakened and form four tribes: Flame, Wind, Earth and Water. Each Sazer is based on a Zodiac sign represented in an animal totem or spirit representation. At first, they wage war on each other, but after learning the truth of their ancestry and their reason for awakening, the Gransazer tribes unite to protect Earth from the Warp Monarch, an alliance of various alien species, from once again extinguishing all life on the planet.Gransazers Episode 27. 

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Los Angeles advertising executive Daniel Miller dies in a car accident on his 39th birthday and is sent to Judgment City, a Purgatory-like waiting area populated by the recently deceased, where he will have his life on Earth judged. Daniel and the rest of the departed are offered many Earth-like amenities and activities while they undergo their judgment processes—from delicious, calorie-free all-you-can-eat buffets, to bowling alleys and comedy clubs. Daniel's defense attorney, Bob Diamond, explains that people from Earth use so little of their brains (only three to five percent) that they spend most of their lives functioning on the basis of their fears. "When you use more than five percent of your brain, you don't want to be on Earth, believe me," says Diamond. If the court determines that Daniel has conquered his fears, he will be sent on to the next phase of existence, where he will be able to use more of his brain and thus be able to experience more of what the universe has to offer. Otherwise, his soul will be reincarnated on Earth to live another life in another attempt at moving past his fears. At Daniel's tribunal, presided over by two judges, Diamond argues that Daniel should move onto the next phase, but his formidable opponent, Lena Foster, takes the opposing argument. Each utilizes video-like footage from select days in Daniel's life to make their case to the judges. During the procedure, Daniel meets and falls in love with Julia, a recently deceased woman who lived a seemingly perfect life of courage and generosity, especially compared to his. Meanwhile, things do not go well for Daniel. Foster shows a series of episodes in which Daniel did not overcome his fears, as well as various other bad decisions and mishaps, while Diamond vigorously attempts to portray Daniel's actions in a more positive light. Following each day's proceedings, Daniel and Julia spend time exploring Judgement City. On the last day of the hearing, Foster plays footage of Daniel's previous night with Julia, in which he declines to spend the night with her despite his strong feelings for her. Foster believes this clearly underscores Daniel's fear and lack of courage. It is ruled that Daniel will return to Earth. Meanwhile, Julia is judged worthy to move on. Before saying goodbye, Diamond comforts Daniel with the knowledge that the court is not infallible and just because Foster won it doesn't mean she's right. Daniel remains disappointed. Daniel boards a tram poised to return to Earth when he spots Julia on a different tram. On impulse, he unstraps himself, leaps from the moving tram, dodges traffic and suffers electric shocks and injury to get to Julia. Unable to enter her tram, he clings precariously to the outside of the moving vehicle, banging on the door and trying to pry it open. The scene pulls back to show that the entire event is being watched by Diamond, Foster, and the judges in the chamber where Daniel's hearing took place. Diamond remarks to Foster, "Brave enough for you?" Foster has no reply other than letting a bit of a smile slip as well. One of the judges sends a message ordering the tram doors opened. Daniel and Julia are reunited, to the applause of the other passengers, and embrace as they are allowed to move on to the next phase of existence together. 

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Romek (Haley Joel Osment) is the son of a wealthy Jewish couple. When the Nazis invade Poland, the family contacts an old friend and tasks him to hide their son. During this plight, Romek poses as the Catholic nephew of a local farmer (Olaf Lubaszenko), with the aid of a compassionate priest (Willem Dafoe). 

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The story is presented as a memory of Diana “Diamond” Armstrong (LisaRaye) sparked by her arrival at the scene of the raunchy, dysfunctional Players Club. She explains that she used to work at the club, beginning working there after getting pregnant with her son and getting into a heated argument with her father about wanting to go to a local historically black college (HBCU), prompting her to move out of her parents' home. Initially, Diana ends up working at a shoe store. There she meets Ronnie (Chrystale Wilson) and Tricks (Adele Givens), who work for Dollar Bill (Bernie Mac) at The Players Club. They convince Diana she would make better money stripping, saying, "Use what you got to get what you want." Dollar Bill gives Diana a job and the name Diamond. Her job initially goes well. However, four years later her younger cousin Ebony Armstrong (Monica Calhoun) comes to live with her after leaving Florida. After listening to Dollar's rendition of "The Strippin' Game", she starts working at the club. Ebony is soon out of control - drinking excessively, staying out all night and influenced more and more by Ronnie and Tricks, who encourage Ebony to do more out-of-club parties for groups of men. Diamond tries to warn Ebony to stay away from Ronnie and Tricks and to quit doing house parties, but Ebony rebels against being told what to do and ignores Diamond's advice. After a heated confrontation with Ebony, Diamond has a flashback to a time when she was at a private party with Ronnie and Tricks. Diamond is passed out on the bed drunk, and the men at the party offer to pay Ronnie to perform cunnilingus on Diamond. Ronnie accepts the offer and proceeds to assault Diamond. The flashback encourages Diamond to continue to try to protect Ebony. Clyde (Alex Thomas) and Reggie (Ice Cube) - two watchmen who work for a drug lord named St. Louis - offer Ebony money to come off and have sex with them, but Diamond intervenes. Meanwhile, Dollar Bill gets confronted by a man who works for St. Louis, a drug lord and loan shark to whom Dollar Bill owes $60,000. He warns Dollar Bill if he doesn't make a payment of $10,000 to St. Louis, he will hunt him down. That same night, St. Louis comes to his club to collect. Lil' Man, the doorman of the club, tells St. Louis that Dollar Bill is not at the club; St. Louis and his men leave. The next day as Dollar Bill tries to leave the club, St. Louis' men Brooklyn (Charlie Murphy) and K.C. (Terrence Howard) confront him. They beat him unconscious and throw him into the trunk of his car. Luckily for him, they are stopped by Freeman (John Amos) and Peters (Faizon Love), two crooked cops. Dollar Bill is found in the trunk and is arrested on warrants; he is later bailed out and returns to the club. The following night rapper Luther "Luke" Campbell comes to the strip club, Reggie and Clyde discuss him. When Dollar Bill is notified that Luke is at his club, he alerts the strippers via a money alarm, believing he will make a fortune. All of the strippers in the club come rushing down where Luke and his crew are sitting, while Diamond chooses to stay pleasuring Miron. Shortly afterwards Diamond's professor comes in the club and notices her dancing. Embarrassed and ashamed, Diamond runs away downstairs to the locker room. Ronnie then comes in and attempts to sexually assault Diamond again but Diamond fights off her advances. Back upstairs, Clyde attempts to meet Luke, but Luke's bodyguard (Michael Clarke Duncan) informs Clyde that Luke is trying to relax and not meet with fans. Clyde insults the bodyguard, causing him to hit Clyde in the back of his head as he starts to walk away. The bodyguard, Luke and the others in the V.I.P. section all laugh. In retaliation, Reggie grabs a chair, smashes it over the bodyguards head and beats down the bodyguard and belligerently fights against Luke and his friends, only for him to be gang-beaten and thrown into a glass window. The dazed Reggie opens fire wildly while the patrons flee before being knocked out by the bouncer X.L. (Tiny Lister). Clyde then gets up and begins throwing punches himself at the entourage. Back downstairs, a panicked Tricks comes busting in yelling about the shooting upstairs stopping Ronnie from assaulting Diamond. Further tension develops between Ebony and Diamond when Diamond returns home later that night after fleeing her obsessive customer Miron, who admitted to stalking her and then tried to force entry to her apartment, only to find Ebony in bed with her now ex-boyfriend Lance (after he breaks up with Diamond earlier). Diamond loses it and lunges at Ebony but Lance restrains her. Ebony frantically flees to the bathroom and locks the door and Diamond chases Lance out with her gun, shooting at him several times. Diamond then threatens and taunts Ebony. When Diamond feigns leaving, she punches Ebony when she opens the door and throws her out of the apartment. Diamond begins to grow sick and tired of the drama with Ebony and the club. Days later, Diamond reconciles with her professor; he tells her he understands and promises to help her start her career after she graduates. Diamond then begins dating Blue (Jamie Foxx), a DJ at the Player's Club. Meanwhile, Ebony is offered a gig to dance at Ronnie's brother Junior's (Samuel Monroe Jr.) bachelor party, under the pretense from Ronnie that other girls from the club will be dancing there as well (In actuality, Ronnie lied to use her as a way out of stripping for her brother's friends at the party so Ebony can strip for them instead). When Ebony realizes that she will be the only woman in a hotel room full of horny men, she desperately tries calling Diamond (who is out on a date with Blue) to come and pick her up, but Diamond refuses, still being mad at Ebony for sleeping with Lance. Meanwhile, at Junior's party, Reggie and Clyde, both feeling insulted by Diamond and Ebony from a previous encounter (she aggressively told them she wasn't interested anymore when she first arrived to the party), tell Junior that Ebony will have sex with him, claiming that they "ran a train" on her. Excited, Junior bursts in on Ebony while she is changing. Ebony resists, prompting Junior to brutally beat and rape her, leaving his friends to listen to it in full disgust and disbelief. Soon, Reggie, Clyde and the other guests leave, wanting no further involvement with Junior. When Ronnie discovers Ebony unconscious, she and Junior flee the hotel room as she scolds him. Later, Diamond has a change of heart and she and Blue decide to check up on Ebony at the hotel, only to discover her bloodied and unconscious body on the bed. This proves to be the final straw for Diamond. Furious, Diamond grabs her gun and goes to the Players Club, where Ronnie and Tricks are hiding out. After scaring the other strippers away by firing a warning shot, Diamond gives the gun to Blue to cover her while she gets into a brutal fistfight with Ronnie, leaving Ronnie badly beaten. Diamond punches Tricks and this prompts Dollar Bill to firing her from the club. Diamond says final insults to Dollar and alongside with Tricks, Dollar and the others check on a beaten and bruised Ronnie and nurse her facial injuries, while Diamond and Blue leave. Ronnie and Tricks are arrested by the police on charges of the rape of Ebony. Later that night, Diamond's timing proves to be perfect when St. Louis, comes to collect. He personally shoots up the club (though he does give warning to the innocent customers and employees beforehand, allowing them to leave). As he desperately tries to escape, Dollar is captured by Reggie, Clyde, and St. Louis' associate, whom Dollar Bill met earlier. Later, one of St. Louis' men Brooklyn destroy the club with a LAW rocket. Ebony, still sporting the bruises from her rape, now has a job working at the shoe store. Having been berated by two strippers who work at a new club, called Club Sugar Daddy's, with the same slogan that influenced her to strip, she firmly stands her ground. In the end, Diamond narrates that Ebony moved back to Tallahassee, FL to be with her mother. Blue is a top D.J. at a radio station, and he and Diamond are moving further in their relationship. Ronnie and Tricks got jobs at Club Sugar Daddy's after their release from jail. Junior is now serving time for Ebony's rape and he never got married. Reggie and Clyde were last seen at the "Freaknik" in Atlanta. St. Louis is still "running the South" along with his hired guns, Brooklyn and K.C. Peters and Freeman are still harassing people all day. Little Man is managing a different strip club in Chicago. Dollar Bill was never heard from again (It can be safely presumed that he was murdered by St. Louis' men for his debts as he was last seen being stuffed into the trunk of their car). Diamond becomes a successful reporter, having put the past behind her to move on to a new life with her son and boyfriend. 

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In the 1980s, Billy Wyatt is a thirty-something washed up baseball player who lives out of a hotel with a cocktail waitress. One afternoon he receives a phone call from his mother to tell him that his close childhood friend Katie Chandler has committed suicide. Flashbacks to the 1960s explain Billy and Katie's relationship. Katie was a slightly older neighborhood girl who babysat Billy for The Wyatt family who were best friends with the Chandler family (Katie's parents). Katie tries to mentor young Billy, giving him advice on girls and dating. As Billy ages he begins to develop feelings for Katie, and Katie in turn develops feeling for him. Just after Billy graduated high school, his father dies in a car accident. Two months later Katie, Billy, Ginny, and Alan Appleby go back to their summer home "Seasmoke" as they do every year and decide to spend the summer there, the first summer without Billy's dad. This begins a summer of humor, coming of age, and loss of innocence. As summer approaches its end, Billy feels Katie is encouraging his mother to live more freely too soon. Billy has a shouting match with Katie. The next day at sunrise, Billy goes to Katie for forgiveness, but what ensues is a deeply suppressed love for each other. This last weekend of the summer defines their true feelings and makes a memory they never forget. They encourage the others to return home while they spend the rest of the weekend together at Seasmoke. Their passion and love that weekend defines their special relationship in life, and in death. As the weekend draws to a close Katie asks that Billy pursue his passion for baseball, and to retrieve the baseball necklace pendant from the girl to whom he lost his virginity just months before. Walking slowly away, she turns and says "I love you Billy boy". The older Billy remembers that was the last time he saw her. In the present, Katie's father Hank visits the Wyatt family to share the bad news. He recounts how he drove to Seasmoke to check on an upset Katie after her second divorce, and found her body lying in her bed. "She looked like a little girl sleeping." Katie's wishes are for Billy to take possession of her cremated ashes, confident that Billy would be the only person to know what to do with them. Billy reunites with his childhood friend Alan Appleby and the two engage in a night of reminiscing and carousing while driving around in Katie's car with Katie's ashes, trying to figure out what to do with her ashes. Suddenly, Billy recalls Katie telling him her fantasy that she could jump off the pier and fly free with the birds. The next morning, Billy goes to the pier, runs down the plank and tosses her ashes just the way she described her fantasy. As he watches the ashes and birds fly freely, Billy realizes this was Katie's plan for him all along. She was speaking to him! The pennant retrieval was for a reason, the trip back home was for a reason, playing baseball with Appleby was for a reason, and all this was done with Katie's ashes in his arms! This directed him towards new sense of possibility in his own life, Billy reunites with a former girlfriend and joins a minor league baseball team; taking pride in grooming the field each morning before a game. The film ends with Billy, his girlfriend, and Appleby celebrating after a game. 

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As punishment for changing the church's opening hymn to "In the Garden of Eden" by I. Ron Butterfly, Reverend Lovejoy makes Bart clean the organ pipes; Milhouse is forced to help for snitching on Bart. After proclaiming there is no such thing as a soul, Bart agrees to sell his to Milhouse for $5 on a piece of paper which reads "Bart Simpson's soul". Lisa warns Bart that he will regret selling his soul, but he dismisses her fears. Bart experiences several unusual phenomena, such as automatic doors refusing to open for him and no longer finding any humor in Itchy and Scratchy. He begins to fear that he really has lost his soul and tries to get it back from Milhouse, who refuses to return it for less than $50. After having a nightmare and being taunted by Lisa, Bart again desperately tries to persuade Milhouse to return his soul. Milhouse informs Bart that he traded the paper to Comic Book Guy at the Android's Dungeon. The next morning, Comic Book Guy tells Bart that he sold the piece of paper but refuses to reveal its new owner. Saddened, Bart walks home in the rain and prays to God for his soul in his bedroom. When a piece of paper with the words "Bart Simpson's soul" floats down from above, Bart discovers that Lisa bought his soul to return it to him. While she explains philosophers' views on the human soul, Bart eats the piece of paper, overjoyed at getting his soul back. In the subplot, Moe tries to expand his customer base by turning his bar into a family theme restaurant. The stress of running the business by himself ultimately unnerves him, and he soon snaps at a little girl. The horrified customers abandon the restaurant, forcing Moe's to revert to a run-down tavern. 

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The film revolves around the intense relationship of the two teenage protagonists, Darren (Cillian Murphy) and Sinéad (Elaine Cassidy), who call each other "Pig" and "Runt," respectively. Pig and Runt were born at the same hospital at nearly the same time and grow up next door to each other. This brings about an extremely close relationship between the two that borders on telepathic. They live in their own world and barely interact with the one around them; when they do, it's mostly to express their hostility toward it. Until just before their 17th birthday, their relationship, while very intense and unhealthy, remains platonic. Around this time, Runt catches and reciprocates the attentions of another young man, Marky (Darren Healy), from their school just as Pig begins to develop romantic feelings for Runt. As their birthday draws closer, Pig becomes more volatile and violent and his new feelings become obvious to Runt when he kisses her after a rampage at a nightclub. Runt does not know how to reject him and they continue their friendship, though relations between them are markedly awkward. Their relationship finally raises concerns at their school. With the cooperation of her parents and Pig's single mother, Runt, considered the more adaptive of the two, is sent away to a boarding school. Pig is devastated by this and decides to run away and retrieve Runt. Even though Runt is paralysed with uncertainty and fear at the boarding school, unsure of how to live her daily life without Pig, she starts to adapt, even befriending another girl. On their 17th birthday, Pig arrives at Runt's school and asks her to leave with them, which she does. Elated at their reunion, the two eventually chance upon a nightclub called The Palace. There, Runt sees Marky again and dances with him. In a fit of jealous rage, Pig beats Marky until he dies. The two flee the club and take a taxi to the beach where they often spend time and make love. In the morning, Pig wordlessly allows Runt to smother him, knowing the punishment awaiting him. Runt stares out to the ocean, wondering what the rest of her life will be like. 

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A malevolent, sentient extraterrestrial parasite lands inside a meteorite into the town of Wheelsy, South Carolina, where it infects wealthy resident Grant Grant, taking over his body and absorbing his mind. With the alien in control of his body, "Grant" begins to transform into a grotesque, tentacled monstrosity. He also abducts and infects a local woman, Brenda, to serve as a breeder for his alien larvae. His wife Starla becomes suspicious over the changes in his appearance and his behavior, leading to Grant attacking her. When the police arrive to rescue Starla, Grant flees. During their search for Grant, a posse led by Police Chief Bill Pardy discovers Brenda, whose body has become inhumanly bloated from the larvae impregnated inside her. They see the floor littered with the remains of dead animals, as Brenda begs to be fed a possum, the slug-like larvae burst from her body, which infest everyone in town except Starla, Bill, Mayor Jack MacReady, and teenager Kylie Strutemyer. Those infected by the larvae become part of a hive mind controlled by Grant, who intends to consume all lifeforms until only his consciousness remains. However, Grant also retains his love for his wife and seeks to be reunited with her. The survivors deduce that killing Grant will eliminate the rest of the aliens before they are attacked by the infected townspeople. Bill and Kylie escape, but Starla and Jack are captured. Armed with a grenade to kill the monster, Bill and Kylie head to Grant's home, where the infected are being absorbed by the increasingly-mutated Grant. Jack and others are turned into breeders for more larvae, while Grant keeps Starla uninfected in the hope of reclaiming her love. After euthanizing Jack at his own request, Bill tries to use the grenade, only for it to fall into a pool when Grant knocks it away. Grant subdues Kylie with a couch and attempts to infect Bill with his tentacles, but Bill manages to attach one of the tentacles to a propane tank. Filled with flammable gas, Grant is shot by Starla and explodes, killing the rest of the aliens in the process. With everyone else in Wheelsy dead, the three survivors head off to seek help. In a post-credits scene, a cat approaches Grant's remains and becomes infected by the alien parasite. 

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May wants a dog more than anything else in the world, and, at school, often imagines that everyone in her class are dogs too. But no matter how much she wants one, her parents often say no to the offer. One day, May tries to show them her such determination by luring, with salami, a pack of ten dogs to her home. But her mother wants them returned, and some time later, May buys a puppy for her mother's birthday using all of her allowance. It does not work to plan, and that same evening, May's parents discuss the trials and tribulations of raising dogs as pets. Still, as to May having a dog of her own, both of them object, and this leads to their daughter throwing her toys all over her room in outrage. It is not long before May sees one of her white rollerskates roll down the nearby staircase like a dog, which gives her an idea: along with a self-built training course, she can train that skate just like she would a real dog! Her school friends, hearing of her idea and amused at first, want to try walking it. Another day, May arrives at the neighbourhood luncheonette to check out the newest comic books, leaving her skate outside. Little does she know that her "dog" is being interrogated by a real one! The latter runs away with it, and afterwards, May panics about its whereabouts. With her "try, try again" attitude, she is reunited with the skate by finding it nearby. In time to come, May and the rollerskate become friends, and the craze as such is catching on with children all over her community. The biggest surprise of all, at the end of the story, is when she finally receives a real dog from her parents as a reward for her hard work. 

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